384. 
APPENDIX. VI. 
have mentioned to consist of only a single 
note. 
To be certain, therefore, that a nestling will 
not have even the call of its species, it should 
be taken from the nest when only a day or two 
old; because, though nestlings cannot see till 
the seventh day, yet they can hear from the 
instant they are hatched, and probably, from 
that circumstance, attend to sounds, more than 
they do afterwards, especially as the call of the 
parents announces the arrival of their food. 
I must own, that I am not equal myself, nor 
can I procure any person to take the trouble of 
breeding up a bird of this age, as the odds 
against its being reared are almost infinite. 
The warmth indeed of incubation may be, in 
some measure, supplied by cotton and fires; 
but these delicate animals require, in this state, 
being fed almost perpetually, whilst the nou- 
rishment they receive should not only be pre- 
pared with great attention, but given in very 
small portions at a time. 
Though I must admit, therefore, that I have 
never reared myself a bird of so tender an age, 
yet I have happened to see both a linnet and a 
goldfinch which were taken from their nests 
when only two or three days old. 
The first of these belonged to Mr. Matthews, 
