THE LINNET’S SONG. 
linnet. When it recovers from its second monlt, the red of the 
breast blending with the amber edges of the feathers produces a 
golden hue ; then the linnet is said to be yellow. After the third 
moult, the breast of the bird becomes a bright carmine, and the 
flanks the red of iron rust ; now it is a “ rose linnet.” At 'this 
period he is in the prime of his plumage, and every successive 
moult he will become dingier. 
But, after all, these remarks only apply to wild birds and 
perhaps to those reared in extensive aviaries. In a cage there 
is no depending on his colour, which is by no means certain 
to undergo the various gradations above described ; indeed, the 
probability is that a caged nestling will never be anything but 
grey or at best a tawny yellow. 
The Linnet’s Song. — Brown, or grey, or yellow, or red, his 
music will be the same ; even sickness does not put his tiny 
pipes out, and, more wonderful than all, the older he gets, the 
better he sings ! I have heard brutal, bird-blinding fanciers 
assert that this is solely because they have lost the use of their 
eyes ; but this is incorrect, as I have seen many linnets ex- 
tremely old, but whose eyes have not left them, sing mag- 
nificently. 
Having made mention of “ bird blinding,” it may be as well 
to give some explanation. Will folks of the nineteenth century 
believe that there exist brutes in the shape of men who will 
deliberately burn out a bird’s sight that his voice may he strength- 
ened ? They bind five fine cambric needles to a bit of stick, 
make them red-hot, and thrust them into the bird’s eyes ! Some 
barbarians, with more refined cruelty, will simply glaze a bird’s 
eyes ! This is done by holding a hot iron to the eyes till a film 
obscures them. This film wears off in a few months, and can 
be renewed again at the fancier’s “ pleasure.” This last trick 
is principally resorted to by men who train birds to sing against 
each other. They say a bird will study his song better without 
his eyes than with them ! Upon my word, such things almost 
make one believe in the possibility of stifling one’s conscience 
altogether ; surely, if bird blinders were as other men, they would 
hear, in the fervour of their sightless victims’ songs, a prayer 
for vengeance, rather than an “ improved tone.” 
The song of a linnet (a “ battling ” linnet he is called) who is 
trained to sing against another, is very different from that of 
the “weighed” linnet, who dwells on every note with wonder- 
ful exactness. This quality • is not necessary to the battling 
linnet, whose sole business is to rattle out his notes as loud and 
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