ON THE SINGING OF BIRDS. 
an apothecary at Kensington, which, from a 
want of other sounds to imitate, almost articu- 
lated the words pretty boy, as well as some other 
short sentences: I heard the bird myself re- 
peat the words pretty boy ; and Mr. Matthews 
assured me, that he had neither the note or call 
of any bird whatsoever. 
This talking linnet died last year, before 
which, many people went from London to hear 
him speak. 
The goldfinch I have before mentioned, was 
reared in the town of Knighton in Radnorshire, 
which I happened to hear, as I was walking by 
the house where it was kept. 
I thought indeed that a wren was singing; 
and I went into the house to inquire after it, 
as that little bird seldom lives long in a cage. 
The people of the house, however, told me, 
that they had no bird but a goldfinch, which 
they conceived to sing its own natural note, as 
they called it; upon which I staid a consider- 
able time in the room, whilst its notes were 
merely those of a wren, without the least mix- 
ture of goldfinch. 
On further inquiries, I found that the bird 
_ had been taken from the nest when only a day 
or two old, that it was hung in a window which 
was opposite to a small garden, whence the 
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