sn APPENDIX. VI. 



be useful to all those who happen to be pleased 

 with smging birds ; because it is clear, that, by 

 educating a bird under several sorts, we may 

 often make such a mixture, as to improve the 

 notes which they would have learned in a wild 

 state. 



It results also from the experiment of the 

 linnet being educated under the Vengolina, that 

 we may introduce the notes of Asia, Africa, 

 and Amoica, into our own woods; because, if that 

 linnet had been set at liberty, * the nestlings of 

 the next season Avould have adhered to the Ven- 

 goUna song, who would again transmit it to 

 their descendants. 



But we may not only improve the notes of 



birds by a happy mixture, or introduce those 



, which were never before heard in Great Britain; 



we may also improve the instrument with which 



the passages are executed. 



If, for example, any one is particularly fond 

 of what is called the song of the Canary bird, it 

 would answer well to any such person, if a nest- 

 ling linnet was brought up under a Canary bird, 

 because the notes would be the same, but the in- 



* I know well, that it is commonly supposed, if you set a caged 



bird at liberty, it will neither be able to feed itself, nor otherwise 



- live long, on account of its being persecuted by the wild ones. 



. There is no foundation, however, for this notion ; and I take it 



to arise from its affording an excuse for continuing to keep these 



birds in confinement. 



