192 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



fusing them in the least. In fact there are different 

 degrees of capacity among bulfinches as well as 

 other animals. One young bird will learn with 

 ease and quickness ; another slowly and with 

 difficulty. But it has been observed that those 

 which learn with most trouble, remember the 

 songs, when once learned, better and longer ; and 

 rarely forget them, even during the moulting 

 season, when the birds often entirely lose what 

 they have acquired. 



Several hundreds of taught birds are annually 

 brought to Berlin, London, and other capitals, by 

 the German birdsellers ; the price varying from 

 one to several pounds each, according to the 

 merits of the bird. 



The bulfinch is very common in the moun- 

 tainous forests of Germany, and it is from Cologne 

 and other places in the Ehine districts that the 

 market for them is principally supplied. Many 

 of them are taught to sing by the weavers while 

 at work in their looms ; which is said to account 

 for the birds beginning to sing when a person 

 standing near them moves his head backwards and 

 forwards. 



To these attractive powers of the bulfinch must be 

 added its obedience and capability of strong attach- 

 ment, which it shows by a variety of little endearing 

 actions; and it has been known even to repeat words 



