96 JOTTINGS ABOUT BIRDS. 



custom is almost universal, including all migrators- 

 birds of song), the former commence their music 

 before the arrival of the latter. So far as the 

 British Islands are concerned, the statement is en- 

 tirely erroneous, and the songsters are silent until 

 called into voice by the sexual rivalry excited by 

 the appearance of the females. For twenty-five- 

 years I have studied bird-life in these islands with 

 unwearying care and incessant application, so that 

 my observations may fairly claim to possess some 

 small amount of weight and importance, and my 

 invariable experience is that Song each season is 

 resumed at the commencement of sexual rivalry, 

 and with one or two exceptions (which it is doubt- 

 ful if they are exceptions at all, as T hope presently 

 to show) dies completely aw^ay with the decline of 

 that sexual stimulus. 



To illustrate this I will be content with giving 

 one or two of the most familiar instances. We 

 will take our first series of examples from birds 

 that are resident in the British Islands. One 

 of our earliest birds to regain its song in spring 

 is the Chaffinch. In some districts it may 

 be heard in small numbers durins; the last ten 

 days of January, as for instance in Devonshire, 

 but further north, in Yorkshire, it is about a fort- 



