220 THE PHILOSOPHY OF BIRDS' NESTS. 



and often make no nest at all, but rudely heap together 

 a quantity of materials ; and the experiment has never 

 been fairly tried, of turning out a pair of birds so 

 brought up, into an enclosure covered with netting, 

 and watching the result of their untaught attempts at 

 nest-making. With regard to the song of birds, how- 

 ever, which is thought to be equally instinctive, the 

 experiment has been tried, and it is found that young 

 birds never have the song peculiar to their species if 

 they have not heard it, whereas they acquire very 

 easily the song of almost any other bird with which 

 they are associated. 



Do Birds sing by Instinct or by Imitation ? 



The Hon. Daines Barrington has given an account of 

 his experiments in the "Philosophical Transactions " for 

 1773 (Vol. 63) ; he says : " I have educated nestling 

 linnets under the three best singing larks the sky- 

 lark, woodlark, and titlark, every one of which, instead 

 of the linnet's song, adhered entirely to that of their 

 respective instructors. When the note of the titlark 

 linnet was thoroughly fixed, I hung the bird in a room 

 with two common linnets for a quarter of a year, which 

 were full in song ; the titlark linnet, however, did not 

 borrow any passage from the linnet's song, but adhered 

 stedfastly to that of the titlark." He then goes on to 

 say that birds taken from the nest at two or three weeks 

 old have already learnt the call-note of their species. 

 To prevent this the birds must be taken from the nest 

 when a day or two old, and he gives an account of a 



