OF BIRDS. 
207 
brought up from the nest, will take the woodlark’s or ca- 
nary’s song to perfection. In some instances it has been 
said to pronounce words with great distinctness. 
The cock linnet may be known, either old or young* 
by these two marks; first, the feathers on his back are 
much browner than those of the hen; and secondly, by 
the white on the three or four longest feathers of the 
wing: if it appear clear, bright, and broad, and reach up 
to the quills, it is a sure sign of a cock bird: for the 
white in the wing of the hen is much less, fainter, and 
l narrower. 
These birds commonly build in a thick bush, or hedge, 
and sometimes among furze bushes, &c. making a small, 
pretty nest, the outside of bent dried weeds, and other 
stubble matter, and the bottom all matted together: the 
inside of fine soft wool, mixed with down stuff, gathered 
from dried plants, with a few horse hairs, made exceed- 
ingly neat and warm, on which she lays four, and some- 
times five white eggs, with fine red specks, especially at 
the blunt end; and has young ones by the middle of 
April or beginning of May. The young may be taken 
at ten days old or sooner; it is very necessary, however, 
that they should be kept very warm, clean, and fed at 
least once in every two hours. Their food at first should 
consist of rape-seed, soaked eight or ten hours in water, 
and afterwards boiled in a little milk. — They are parti- 
cularly fond of linseed, from which it is supposed they 
derive their name. 
Sparrow. (PI. 33.) The sparrow is one of the most 
familiar of volatiles, constantly fluttering round our ha- 
bitations, and seldom absent from our orchards and gar® 
dens. It is universally hated by farmers as injurious to 
their rural economy; yet its utility has been clearly pro- 
ved to overbalance its depredations: for it has been known 
that a single pair of sparrows, during the time they have 
to feed their young, destroy on an average every week 
between thirty and forty thousand caterpillars, besides a 
variety of winged insects. 
These birds generally build their nests under the eaves 
of houses, ox ixx holes in the walls; and the affection af 
