Sophie Morris

Hi all, I'm trying to teach myself the German language using Duolingo. Everything has made sense until now. I'm confused about where to place "nicht" in a sentence. I've looked at resources outside Duolingo and still can't figure it out. Here is the sentence that brought my lack of understanding to the front: Ich kenne den Vogel nicht. Could anyone help me understand why the sentence isn't: Ich kenne nicht den Vogel. Thank you.