274 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



reared are almost infinite. The warmth, indeed, of 

 incubation may be, in some measure, supplied by 

 cotton and fires ; but these delicate animals require, 

 in this state, being fed almost perpetually, whilst the 

 nourishment they receive should not only be prepared 

 with great attention, but given in very small portions 

 at a time. 



" Though I must admit, therefore, that I have not 

 reared myself a bird of so tender an age, yet I have 

 happened to see both a linnet and a goldfinch which 

 were taken from their nests when only two or three 

 days old. 



" The first of these 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. 

 I heard the bird myself repeat the words pretty boy ; 

 and Mr. Matthews assured me that he had neither 

 the note or call of any bird whatsoever. 



"This talking linnet died last year; and many 

 persons went from London to hear him speak. 



" The goldfinch I have before mentioned was 

 reared in the town of Knighton, in Radnorshire, 

 which I happened to hear as I was walking by the 

 house where it was kept. 



" I thought, indeed, that a wren was singing, 

 and I went into the house to inquire after it, as that 

 little bird seldom lives long in a cage. 



" The people of the house, however, told me that 

 they had no bird but a goldfinch, which they con- 

 ceived to sing its own natural note, as they called it ; 

 upon which I stayed a considerable time in the room, 

 whilst its notes were merely those of a wren without 

 the least mixture of goldfinch. 



" On further inquiries, I found that the bird had 

 been taken from the nest when only two or three 

 days old, that it was hung in a window which was 



