MIMICRY OF FINCHES 171 



of my other experiments, however, the nestHng 

 Hnnet retained the call of its own species, or what 

 the bird-catchers term the linnet's chuckle, from some 

 resemblance to that word when pronounced. All of 

 my nestling birds were three weeks old when taken 

 from the nest, and by that time they frequently 

 learn their own call-note from the parent birds, which 

 consists only of a single note. To be certain, there- 

 fore, that a nestling will not have even the call of its 

 own species, it should be taken from the nest when 

 only a day or two old ; because, though nestlings 

 cannot see till the seventeenth day, yet they can 

 hear from the instant they are hatched, and probably, 

 from that circumstance, attend to sounds more than 

 they do afterwards, especially as the call of the 

 parents announces the arrival of their food " {ibid. 



p. 273). 



It is evident that in these remarks Barrington 

 alluded to singing-birds only, the newly-hatched 

 young of some other orders of birds being able to see 

 and run. He saw a linnet which had been taken when 

 only two or three days old, and which he was assured 

 had no call-note of any bird whatsoever ; he heard it 

 almost articulate the words pretty boy, and some other 

 short sentences. He also heard a goldfinch, which had 

 been taken at the same early age, and which had no 



