BIRDS AT SCHOOL 121 



times. I had a good opportunity of noticing 

 this when I was a boy ; a schoolfellow of mine 

 took a young linnet from its nest and reared it, 

 and in due time the little bird began to sing. 

 But it was kept in a town, where it never heard 

 a wild linnet sing, and so all it could do was to 

 imitate the chattering of the sparrows and the 

 whistling of the starlings, which were all the 

 masters it had. 



People who rear the German high-class 

 singing canaries always take care to keep 

 some very fine old birds to teach the young 

 ones when they begin to sing, and these are 

 actually called " schoolmasters," and always 

 cost much more than an ordinary singing 

 canary. 



Then, when the young birds are quite 

 grown up and have got mates of their own, 

 they have to learn, more or less, how to build 

 a nest ; I say more or less, because they 

 always have some idea of it, this being really 

 one of the things they know by instinct. A 

 young martin, for instance, will naturally 

 make its nest of mud, and a young sparrow 

 of straw or hay ; but the first nests are often 

 not nearly so well done as those the birds 



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