188 HABITS OF BIRDS. 
also a female willow-wren that sings nearly as much 
as the cock; this bird was bred up from the nest, 
and did not sing at all the first year. Her note is 
quite different from that of the male, but resembles 
it sufficiently to indicate that it belongs to the same 
species.”* “In nightingales,” says M. Montbeil- 
lard, ‘as in other species, there are females which 
enjoy some prerogatives of the male, and particu- 
larly participate of his song. I saw a female of 
that sort which was tame; her warble resembled 
that of the male, yet neither so full nor so varied ; 
she retained it until spring, when, resuming the 
character of the sex, she exchanged it for the oc- 
cupation of building her nest and laying her eggs, 
though she had no mate. It would seem that in 
warm countries, as in Greece, such females are 
pretty common, both in this species and many oth- 
ers; at least this is implied in a passage of Aris- 
totle.” 
With respect, again, to Mr. Barrington’s inference 
that the want of song in the female is for the pur- 
pose of concealing the eggs, Mr. Sweet farther says, 
‘“‘T certainly have never heard a thrush sing when 
sitting” (as had been asserted by a correspondent 
in a recent periodical work), ‘‘ perhaps for want of 
attending to it; but I have frequently heard and 
seen the male black-cap sing while sitting on the 
eggs, and have found its nest by it more than once ; 
the male of this species sitting nearly as much as 
the female.” These well-authenticated facts, as 
well as more that we could adduce, are fatal to the 
theory. 
St. Ambrose, on the other hand, asserts that “ the 
nightingale, by the sweetness of her song, solaces 
herself during the long nights in which she is hatch- 
ing her eggs, watchful and sleepless.” 
Another hypothesis advocated by several natural- 
* Magazine of Nat. Hist., i., 346, 
