NOTICEABLE INCIDENTS 61 



Man, p. 368), and such it probably is during the 

 breeding season ; but the first songs of immature 

 birds, such as the young skylark, robin, and thrush, 

 cannot reasonably be considered to be directly 

 occasioned by the emotion of love. 



2. Song is not uttered until birds have nearly 

 attained their full size. Mr. W. H. Hudson asserts 

 (pp. cit.) that the young of the red oven-bird when 

 only partially fledged sing the song of their parents ; 

 this is unlike the hunger-cry, which resembles that 

 of other fledgelings. The Rev. H. A. Macpherson 

 informs me that bullfinches try to pipe as soon as 

 they can perch, and that young hawfinches when 

 in confinement sing almost as early. 



3. Birds sing most frequently at early morning 

 or at evening, and in the former case they 

 commence singing in much less light than that 

 which remains when they cease in the evening. 

 They also sing in warm, fine weather, rather than 

 during cold or fog. But indifference to weather is 

 by no means infrequent, for many birds sing much 

 during rain for example, the blackbird, robin, willow- 

 warbler, and chirTchaff while house-sparrows are 

 particularly noisy during rain, especially in winter, 

 and when they are in the shelter of a tree. The 

 sparrows near my bedroom a numerous population 



