The Brown Linnet. 



137 



the night, and feed them every two hours from 6 a.m. to 

 7 p.m. Prepare the food for them in the same manner as 

 recommended for Greenfinches, and treat them similarly ; 

 or they may be fed on soaked bread, scalded rape seed, and 

 hard-boiled egg, chopped fine or grated, or rubbed through a 

 piece of perforated zinc, these ingredients being made into a 

 moist paste. A quill cut in the form of a pen is as good 

 as anything with which to administer it. 



Distinguishing Marks op Cook and Hen. — The hen bird 

 strongly resembles the young male, and is nearly as large. 

 The colours of the plumage, however, are not nearly so 

 bright and vivid, and more particularly is this observable 

 with the browns and whites. The back of a hen is much 

 paler and greyer, and she may be distinguished from the 

 male by the white margins of the wing feathers, as these 

 markings are much narrower in the female, and only come 

 half way to the quills on the outside ; whereas, in a 

 cock, the white markings go quite home to the quills. 

 This is a certain and infallible distinction. The bill of the 

 hen is much paler in colour than that of the male bird, 

 and she is more profusely spotted on the breast aild rump, 

 resembling a Skylark in this respect. The young males 

 may be distinguished by a grey collar which encircles the 

 neck, and by their being brighter and more vivid in colour 

 than the hens. 



Song. — The chief characteristic of the Brown Linnet is its 

 song, which is much admired by the generality of bird fanciers. 

 It sings somewhat loudly, and the notes it utters are various — 

 sonorous, clear, and distinct. Old birds sing the best, and 

 there is a much greater variety of notes in birds from four 

 to five years of age and upwards than in younger ones. 

 Some of the most admired of their notes are " weke, 

 weke," wike, wike," "wake, wake," and the more frequently 

 these are repeated, the more valuable the bird becomes. 

 Brown Linnets are frequently trained by their owners to 

 sing in matches, and can be taught to begin to sing by the 

 holding up of a finger, and to cease as soon as the finger 

 is put down again. Other persons cover the cage con- 

 taining the bird with a piece of baize, or a handkerchief ; 

 as soon as this cover is removed, the bird will commence 

 his song, and discontinue it the moment it is replaced. High 



