256 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



and forced accents, which have neither charms 

 nor beauty, in the room of the free and varied 

 modulations of uninstructed nature, is a perver- 

 sion of its talents. Linnets are frequently seen 

 in flocks during the winter, and their assembling 

 with other kinds of small birds is a sure presage 

 of the coming storm, with which that gloomy 

 season sets in; they feed on various seeds, and 

 are particularly fond of lintseed, from which cir- 

 cumstance, it is said, they derive their name. 



