132 BRITISH BIRDS. 



of wild birds, are taken when about ten days old, and 

 brought up by a person who, by care and attention, so 

 completely tames them, that they become perfectly docile 

 and obedient. 



At the end of about two months they first begin to 

 whistle, from which time their education begins ; and no 

 academy can be more diligently superintended, or have 

 pupils more effectually trained, than that of bullfinches. 

 At first they are formed into classes of about six in 

 each ; and after having been kept a longer time than 

 usual without food — a privation thought by children 

 very hard to endure — and still more, confined in a dark 

 room, the tune they are to learn is played over and over 

 again on a little instrument called a bird-organ, the 

 notes of which greatly resemble those of the bullfinch. 



For a time, perhaps, the birds sit moping and in si- 

 lence, not knowing what to make of such proceedings ; 

 but, after a while, they begin, one by one, to imitate the 

 notes they hear. As soon as they do so, light is admit- 

 ted into the room, and they are allowed a small supply 

 of food. The sound of the organ, and the circumstance 

 of being fed, become by degrees so associated, that the 

 hungry bird is sure to imitate the notes as soon as 

 they are heard. They are then given to the care of 

 boys, whose sole business it is to carry on their education, 



