ORDER PASSERES. 275 



loses its melody, because it is too powerful for the sphere 

 which it fills, and its accents acquire a harshness which is 

 fatiguing. The linnet, the goldfinch, the bullfinch, willingly 

 receive instruction ; but the canary has a better ear, more 

 facility of imitation, and a better memory. Its natural dis- 

 position is also more docile and amiable. Its song, which is 

 a model of grace, is heard at all times, and charms us when 

 all else is silent in nature. It is of all birds that which is 

 educated with most pleasure, for its education is the most 

 easy and the most successful. The canary acquires, by 

 domestication, colours more pure and brilliant than it pos- 

 sesses in a state of nature, and its song is also infinitely supe- 

 rior ; it has been embellished and made more perfect by 

 borrowing foreign strains. Some have acquired the notes of 

 the titlark, and others those of the nightingale, and all possess 

 the pure, soft, melodious timhre, which the wild canary never 

 possesses. Mr. Barrington saw two of these birds which 

 came from the Canary Islands, neither of which had any 

 song, and the same Avas the case with a great number of them 

 brought over afterwards. Most of the birds imported from 

 the Tyrol have been educated under parents whose progeni- 

 tors were taught by the nightingale. Our English ones, 

 however, partake more of the notes of the titlark. M. Vieil- 

 lot had several of the native canaries alive, and he assures us 

 of the inferiority of their song. Another fact, equally singu- 

 lar, is, that he could never bring them to couple, either 

 together or with the domestic canaries. A description of 

 these native canaries may not be improper here, as there is 

 nothing of the kind in the text ; and it will be useful in 

 pointing out the differences occasioned by captivity and 

 domestication. 



Their size is the same as that of the domestic bird, but 

 their form is thicker and more compact. The head is 

 thicker ; the feathers which cover it, as well as those of the 



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