BULLFINCH. 



with difficulty, and slowly ; the former will repeat, without 

 hesitation, several parts of a song ; the latter will hardly be 

 able to whistle one part, after nine months'* uninterrupted 

 teaching : but it has been remarked that those birds which 

 learn with most difficulty, remember the songs which have 

 once been well learned, better and longer, and rarely forget 

 them, even when moulting. The instrument used is a bird- 

 organ, or a flageolet, but generally the former. Many birds, 

 when young, will learn some strains of airs whistled or played 

 to them regularly every day ; but it is only those whose me- 

 mory is capable of retaining them that will abandon their 

 natural song, and adopt fluently, and repeat without hesita- 

 tion, the air that has been taught them. Thus a young 

 Goldfinch learns, it is true, some part of the melody played 

 to a Bullfinch ; but it will never be able to render it as per- 

 fectly as this bird : this difference is not caused by the greater 

 or less flexibility of the organ, but rather by the superiority 

 of memory in the one species over that of the other. Num- 

 bers of Bullfinches, Avhich have been taught in the manner 

 described, are brought from Germany to London every spring, 

 and are frequently advertised for sale in the London news- 

 papers : the price, which is sometimes considerable, depends 

 on the powers and proficiency of the performer." 



The Bullfinch, as before observed, is common in England, 

 and Mr. William Thompson writes me word that it is not 

 uncommon in certain localities in L-eland. According to Sir 

 William Jardine and Mr. Macgillivray, it is also frequent in 

 the southern parts of Scotland : but it is not found in the 

 northern Scottish islands of Orkney or Shetland. It inha- 

 bits Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Russia ; is particularly 

 common in the forests of Germany, and from thence to the 

 shores of the Mediterranean. To the eastward in this par- 

 allel it is found as far as the countries spread between the 

 Black and the Caspian Seas. M. Thunbcrg long ago said 



