Athena Cowan of the Edinburgh auctioneer Lyon & Turnbull, with some 19th-century French singing mechanical birds in a cage, valued between £800 and £1200, which will be sold at auction on March 5.

The domed wirework cage contains three songbirds that have moving heads, beaks and tails, and is 58cm high. The lot, from a private Scottish collection, is in the sale of Fine Antiques in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

Picture: Gordon Terris