432 Cause of Singing in Birds. 



Art. X. Retrospective Criticism. 



WHY do Birds sing ? (p. '281—289.) — I am glad to find 

 that my passing observations (VII. 484 — 486.) upon this in- 

 teresting subject, have excited the attention of several of your 

 correspondents ; and I was much gratified by the perusal of 

 the able paper upon this subject in p. 281 — 289., by Mr. 

 White. There are, however, two or three points upon which 

 I would offer a few remarks. 



From Mr. White's mode of arguing the first part of the 

 question, the capability of some birds to sing, and which he 

 proves from the formation of the trachea, I presume that he 

 infers that all birds so formed do sing. He farther shows 

 that other animals (man) have a somewhat similar provision. 

 All this may be very true, and very admirable: the adaptation of 

 the means to produce modulations of the voice may be all taken 

 for granted ; but, to be of any use to the enquiry, I think we 

 must also be prepared to allow, that all animals so formed are 

 singing animals. The power or capability to sing is one thing ; 

 to sing quite another. I may be endowed with vocal powers to a 

 redundancy ; but that, of itself, would never, certainly, incite 

 me to sing. I grant that there can be no singing without an 

 adaptation of the organs of voice to produce melodious sounds: 

 the trachea of all men, Mr. White tells us, has this adapta- 

 tion : but all men are not singers. The power of singing 

 cannot, I think, be the cause of singing ; and, if not, the subject 

 of the formation of the trachea, though highly interesting, is 

 rather beside the question. Paley's argument of the gardener 

 and the tulip is exactly applicable to this point. (Nat. Tkeo.,v.) 

 The means by which birds sing is not the enquiry ; we want 

 to find out the reason why, and not the means by which, they 

 sing. 



On the other part of the question, Mr. White observes, 

 i* What, then, is the stimulating cause to sing ? Is it not 

 their having every requisite organ for song by their peculiar 

 construction, and their being excited by the season ? " and 

 then he quotes from Solomon. This, I think, is hardly to 

 the point, or, at least, is not a satisfactory accounting for the 

 singing of birds. I certainly cannot conceive any thing ex- 

 citing to joyousness in a frosty December morning; and yet 

 upon such occasions the thrush frequently pours forth a tide 

 of melody; and I have, as I have before stated (VIII. 548.), 

 heard the woodlark sing for hours at the same season. This 

 will not, either, explain the singing of the nightingale, to 

 which I have alluded (VII. 483, 484.), as I approached her 

 nest. 



But let us examine the observation of Solomon : he says, 



