THE LINNET AND THE SISKIN 45 



In spite of the approach of the bad season the flock 

 does not separate. All winter long the numerous families 

 of linnets continue to live sociably. They glean some 

 scattered thistle-seed along the by-paths, perching on 

 poplars and lime trees, picking the young buds ; you can 

 hear them twittering in the boughs as soon as the February 

 sun sends some warm beams through the winter fogs. 

 The males only are fine musicians. They begin with a 

 light prelude which however is original only with wild 

 linnets. The captive birds repeat only those strains that 

 have been drilled into them ; they are artists of inferior 

 quality. 



M. Gueneau de Montbeillard remarks a little sen- 

 tentiously that this is quite natural. « The bird whose 

 voice has been formed in liberty, following only inner 

 emotions, must have more touching accents than that 

 which sings without an aim, only to kill time or to exercise 

 its organs)). 



The truth is that the art of song does not develop it- 

 self spontaneously even in singing-birds, but only by 

 education and imitation. In the free state the young 

 linnet forms its voice by hearing its father and other males 

 of the neighbourhood repeat the old traditional melodies, 

 which have been transmitted from one generation to 

 anothei'. The linnets that are born in a cage, or in ihe 

 nest prepared by a bird-catcher, have often no other 

 instructor than some boor who whistles some popular 



