[ 2§ 9 1 
• But to return to the ufes (fuch as they are) which 
may arife from attending to the fong of birds, or 
from the experiments which I have given an account 
of. 
The firft of thefe is too much negledted by the 
naturalift; for, if the bird is not qj right, the only 
means often by which either the fex or the fpecies 
can be determined is the fong. For example, if 
Monf. Adanfon had informed us whether the Euro- 
pean fwallows, which he conceived were to be leen 
during the winter at Senegal, had the fame notes 
with ihofe of Europe, it would have been going one 
Hep further in proof of the fails which he and others 
fo much rely upon. 
Thefe experiments, however, may be faid to be 
ufeful to ail thofe who happen to bepleafed with ring- 
ing biids; becaufe it is clear, that, by educating a 
bird under feveral forts, we may often make luch. a 
mixture, as to improve the notes which they would 
have learned in a wild Fate. 
It relults alfo from the experiment of the linnet 
being educated under the Vengolina, that we may 
introduce the notes of Afia, Africa, and America, 
into our own woods; becaufe, if that linnet had 
. been fet at liberty*, the nefthngs of the next lealon 
would have adhered to the Vengolina fong, who 
would again tranfmit it to their defendants. 
ml know well, that it is commonly fuppofed,, if you At a 
caged bird at liberty, it will neither be able to feed iifdf, nor 
otherwise live long, on account of us be in 2 perfecuted by 'the 
wdd ones. There is no foundation, however., for this notion; 
and I take it to arife from an excule for comuming lo keep thefe 
birds in confinement. 
But. 
