484? Cause of Singing in Birds. 



those frequent breaks, which are so characteristic of the song 

 of the nightingale, when heard at a little distance ; it was one 

 incessant warble. I can hardly call it a warble either ; it 

 was an unceasing effort; so much so, that I stood perfectly 

 astonished, and at a loss to conceive how it was possible for 

 so small a creature to exert herself so mightily. I began, 

 however, to think, that the nest of the melodist could not be 

 far off'; and, as I had never yet seen the nest of the bird, I 

 determined to watch her closely, in order to discover it. But, 

 I was nearly giving up the search as useless ; for, as soon as I 

 entered the copse, no matter at what part I made my en- 

 trance, there was the nightingale close at my side, delighting 

 me with her melody, and hopping from spray to spray, and 

 from bush to bush, and thus leading me the round of the 

 wood at her pleasure. When, however, all hope of finding 

 the nest had nearly vanished, I fell in with it by pure accident, 

 and I then discovered that the singing of the bird had always 

 led me in a direction from the nest. The question with which 

 I began, I would therefore again repeat — Are all birds in the 

 habit of luring intruders from their nests ? 



Why do Bii^ds sing P — As I have just been speaking of the 

 nightingale, perhaps it is the most appropriate place for offer- 

 ing a few remarks upon the song of birds : a subject, by the 

 way, of some difficulty. The question, Why do birds sing ? 

 has never yet been, I think, satisfactorily answered. It was 

 supposed that the male sang to soothe the female during in- 

 cubation. (Pennant, quoted in Rennie's Montagu.) There 

 was plausibility in this ; but then the question would imme- 

 diately arise, Why are some birds denied song ? Do the females 

 of some birds require soothing more than others ? Besides, 

 birds sit during the night as well as the day, yet no bird but 

 the nightingale sings during the night. The skylark frequently 

 mounts so high that we not only lose sight of him, but we 

 also lose all trace of his song : can the female then hear him 

 and be soothed by his notes ? Barrington (quoted in Rennie's 

 Montagu) supposed the female to be silent, " lest her song 

 should discover her nest." A singular conclusion, certainly, 

 at the same time that it was supposed that the male sang to 

 soothe the female during the period of incubation. If the 

 song were poured forth for this soothing purpose, it must of 

 course have been in the near neighbourhood of the nest, and 

 consequently would be as likely to discover the nest as if the 

 female herself sang ; besides, do not the females of some birds 

 sing occasionally, as well as the males ? Now comes another 

 theory. " The males of song birds do not, in general, search 

 for the females, but, on the contrary, their business in the 



