352 
NOTES TO THE 
The toy-linnet is a bird that has been taught to sing by the 
titlark, woodlark, or yellow-hammer, and only a very few take 
the perfect song. The following is the perfect song of the toy- 
linnet. It begins thus : — 
Pu poy, tolhck, tollick, eky qiiak, 
E-wheet, tolHck, cha eyk, quake, wheet." 
This is one stave of the song. The next staves are : — 
PliiUip, cha eke, quake, wheet. 
Call up, cha eke, quake, wheet. 
Tollick, eke, quake, chow, 
Eke, eke, eke, quak chow. 
Chick chick, chay, ter wheet tollick, eke quake, wheet, 
Echup, echup, pipe, chow. 
Ah, ah, ah ! J-o-e, 
Eke, quake, chow, rattle. 
Tuck, tuck, wizzy, ter wheet, 
Tolliky, quake wheet." 
This is the finish of the toy-linnet's song. Perfect toy-linnets 
are worth any sum of money you like to ask — 151. to 201. 
would be given readily for a thorough good one. " Broken song " 
birds are only worth 30s. to 50s. each. A broken song-bird will 
not make his stops in the song as given above ; he will run one 
into the other. The old song-birds (linnets) are very scarce, as 
the trainers of them are gradually getting old and dying off. 
When the above song is put together by a proper bird, he does it 
just like a flute ; it is something splendid. It is said that there 
is not a perfect bird in London at the present time. 
To get these birds to learn the song they must be taken from 
the nest very young, before they get the call of the parent birds. 
Snow-bunting, p. 42. — The common snow-bunting is plentiful 
in the autumn around the Norfolk coast, particularly at Yar- 
mouth ; it is a very hardy bird, feeds freely on oats and any 
kind of seed., When on flight they are often taken by the 
ordinary observer to be pied-larks. The old birds are very light, 
nearly white, and not worth keeping for song, only for aviaries. 
" Snow-flakes " are snow-buntings, and arrive in this country 
in great flocks, about the Norfolk coast particularly. Formerly 
they were rare, but now the bird-catchers keep call-birds of the 
same species all the year round, so that the snow-buntings are 
now very plentiful in the bird-shops in the autumn and early 
spring. They were taken in abundance at Brighton last year. 
They are killed and eaten as larks. 
