EVOLUTION OF BIRD- SONG 



note they had never heard (in litt^}. The Rev. A. 

 R. Winnington-Irigram, a careful observer, informed 

 me that he had heard the cry of the lapwing uttered 

 by young birds of that species while in their shells. 

 There could have been no mistake about the matter, 

 for the eggs containing the birds had then been 

 removed to the rectory at Lassington. Birds also 

 may inherit a knowledge of the cries of their parents, 

 and some of them when only lately hatched, or, 

 according to Mr. Hudson, when chipping their way 

 out of the shells, immediately become silent if the 

 parent utters a cry of alarm in the vicinity. 



The latter observer was of the opinion that some 

 young of the rhea, or South American ostrich, reared 

 by him, had so strongly inherited this knowledge, 

 that, when he imitated the alarm-cry of the species, 

 they ran to him for shelter. But it appears that the 

 birds in question had been captured "just after they 

 had hatched out," and therefore they might possibly 

 have been partly educated by their parent, for we 

 know that very young birds are generally apt pupils. 

 Mr. Hudson also records similar instances of inherit- 

 ance in a South American tinamu and the oven- 

 bird, the young of which, when only a day or two 

 old, utter the full cries or songs of their respective 

 parents (Naturalist in La Plata], Apparently, birds 



