18 Mr. J. Blackwall's Observations on the Notes of Birds, 



first, he states, " belonged to Mr. Matthews, an apothecary at 

 Kensington, which, from a want of other sounds to imitate, 

 almost articulated the words ' pretty boy,' as well as some 

 other short sentences ;" and the owner assured him that it had 

 neither the note nor call of any bird whatsoever. The gold- 

 finch had acquired the song of the wren, without appearing to 

 have a note or even the call of the goldfinch. 



From these experiments and observations, of which I have 

 given a concise, but I trust impartial account, Mr. Barrington 

 was led to conclude, that " notes in birds are no more innate 

 than language is in man, but depend entirely upon the master 

 under which they are bred, as far as their organs will enable 

 them to imitate the sounds which they have frequent oppor- 

 tunities of hearing." I am not aware, however, that he has 

 brought forward a single fact, from which such an inference 

 can be fairly deduced. The main tendency of his researches 

 is merely to prove (what was before perfectly well known) that 

 some birds have very extraordinary powers of imitation, and 

 may be taught, when young, to sing the notes of other species, 

 whistle tunes, or even pronounce a few words. If his remarks 

 on this subject contain any novelty, it is, that birds so edu- 

 cated sometimes remain satisfied with these imitations, never 

 blending any of their own notes with them ; and, indeed, on 

 this solitary circumstance, slight and inconclusive as it is, the 

 entii*e weight of his arguments is rested. The instances of the 

 goldfinch acquiring the song of the wren, and Mr. Matthews's 

 linnet learning to articulate one or two short sentences, with- 

 out having even the calls of their species, which this author 

 seems to think so decisive, prove no more than his own ex- 

 periments ; which, as they were made, for the most part, with 

 birds remarkable for their imitative powers, were certainly by 

 no means well adapted to his purpose. As for the goldfinch, 

 Mr. Barrington heard it only once, and then but lor a short 

 time ; and that no dependence could be placed on any report 

 of the people to whom it belonged, is evident from their sup- 

 posing that it sang its own notes. These are circumstances 

 that powerfully tend to invalidate almost every thing of im- 

 portance that has been advanced respecting this bird. 



In order to ascertain whether nestlings when taken very 

 young will or will not have the calls and songs of their species, 

 they should be kept in situations where they have no oppor- 

 tunity of learning any sounds that they may substitute for 

 them ; but this, I believe, has never yet been attempted. 



I have already asserted, that Mr. Barrington's conclusions 

 are contrary to common experience. I shall now endeavour 

 to establish this charge. 



It 



