WRY BIRDS SING. 543 



this view. To be able to speak critically of the love-song, one should 

 pay especial regard to the love-life of birds. It would be to throw wa- 

 ter into the sea to add to what ornithological writers have advanced 

 concerning the exceeding vital worth and cosmical significance of love. 

 Nevertheless, I venture the opinion that the origin of the song-habit 

 is to be found in other sources as well as in this important factor, 

 among which is the joy of life, manifested in an irresistible deter- 

 mination to announce itself in melody ; and that the song is more per- 

 fectly brought out in proportion as this feeling is more highly devel- 

 oped in the organization. Birds in freedom begin to sing long before 

 pairing, and continue it, subject to interruptions, long afterward, 

 though all passion has been extinguished ; and domesticated birds 

 sing through the whole year without regard to breeding-time, though 

 no female or companion ever be in sight. Such birds, born in cap- 

 tivity, never feel the loss of freedom, and, if they are well taken 

 care of, are always hearty and in good spirits. The bird sings, to a 

 large extent, for his own pleasure ; for he frequently lets himself out 

 lustily when he knows he is all alone. In the spring-time of love, 

 when all life is invigorated, and the effort to win a mate by ardent 

 wooing is crowned with the joy of triumph, the song reaches its highest 

 perfection. But the male bird also sings to entertain his mate during 

 the arduous nest-building and hatching, to cheer the young, and, if he 

 be a domesticated bird, to give pleasure to his lord and the providence 

 that takes care of him, and in doing so to please himself. Lastly, the 

 bird sings — by habit, as we call it — because the tendency is innate in 

 the organs of song to exercise themselves. 



My male hedge-sparrow, whose truly devoted care of its solitary 

 young one I have described, began, after a ten days' pause, to sing- 

 more frequently and intensively, although neither a female nor a male 

 of his species was in the neighborhood, apparently to cheer his ward. 

 His evening farewells, uttered in a clear voice, were peculiarly expres- 

 sive and touching. When, after eight days more, the chick began of 

 itself to pick food from the dish and to snap at flies, the old bird dis- 

 continued its daytime feeding and singing, and came only at night. 

 When the young bird was ready to fly, it came no more. 



Female birds, as a rule, do not sing. The mechanism of their vocal 

 apparatus is the same as that of the males, though with a weaker mus- 

 cularity ; and they are not wanting in ability to give melodious and 

 vigorous expression to the exuberance of their life, but they seem to 

 have lost the habit, or to be without the disposition to do so. Some 

 authors, with Daines Barrington and Darwin, regard their non-incli- 

 nation to sing as a mark of prudence ; for it would be dangerous for 

 them to make themselves conspicuous during the breeding-season, and 

 direct the attention of enemies to their nests with their precious con- 

 tents. But some other authors suggest, and I am inclined to agree 

 with them, that they are restrained by a feminine reserve. The knowl- 



