Pug dog, Goldfinches

This old auction poster hangs above the stairs in Cardigan market hall. It announces a sale that took place on Tuesday September 27th 1887.
One Couch, 3 Easy Chairs, Iron Bedsteads, Feather Beds and Bed Clothes, Dressing Tables, Towel Horses, Washstands, Tables, Clocks, Fenders and Fire Irons, Bar Fixtures, Brandy Casks and Brewing Utensils, Glasses, Decanters, Tubs, Beer Boiler, Beer Guage [sic] , Beer Filter, 2 Pigs, 1 Pure Bred Pug Dog and 2 Prize Goldfinches.... in fact the entire contents of a pub or hotel that must have been a going concern until death, debt or some other disaster forced its sale, literally lock, stock and barrel.

It was the goldfinches that caught my attention. These beautiful birds (as blipped by Serpentine) were trapped and caged in vast numbers during the Victorian period when they were popular for their song. For example 132 thousand were caught in one year (1860) in Sussex alone, causing the population to crash.  Halting this decline was one of the reasons for the formation of the (Royal) Society for the Protection of Birds in 1889.*

One James Greenwood, writing in 1874, describes the scene in the East End of London where caged birds were a popular sort of fashion accessory, also, it's thought, a diversion for weavers working in tiny airless attics as well as a opportunity for competitive betting on the quality of their song.

"...Hare Street is strongest in singing birds. Not so much for sale seemingly, as brought out for an airing. There they were, not here and there one, but by dozens and hundreds – goldfinches and chaffinches chiefly, the cages that contain them tied in handkerchiefs, silk and cotton, and carried swinging in the hand, and jostling amongst the rude mob, as though they were of no more account than parcels of most ordinary merchandise. But the most amazing part of the business was, that not only did the imprisoned and much-hustled finches continue to exist under such circumstances, but they retained perches and equanimity in the most perfect manner, and sang as they were carried." http://www.soundsurvey.org.uk/index.php/survey/post/victorian_cage-bird_fanciers_of_brick_lane/#sthash.318kQoU5.dpuf

So the birds from the nameless hostelry were by no means unusual and were presumably kept for the entertainment of the customers. Let's hope they and the pug dog found good homes when the sale was over.


*In fact it's not against the law even now to keep goldfinches as caged songbirds but only if they are bred from captive stock and are not taken from the wild. However there are reports that they are again being trapped in large numbers  and this is illegal - see here for a typical case reported last year.