SONGS. 191 
turning frequently with the muting of the young in 
his beak, which is dropped at a distance from the 
nest.”* 
Plausible as this reasoning seems to be, it will 
not be difficult to adduce numerous facts with which 
it will not accord. Itis not, indeed, a correct state- 
ment of the fact, to say that birds sing only during 
the seasons of pairing and breeding, as Buffon and 
Montagu assume. This is the case with the greater 
number of the seed-eating song-birds, both wild and 
tame; but not with the soft-billed birds. -The red- 
breast sings as merrily during sharp frost as in the 
heyday of summer or in the mild sunshine of au- 
tumn. A much smaller and more delicate bird, the 
wren (Anorthura communis), also sings in all weath- 
ers during the autumn and winter, as well as the 
little dunnock (Accentor modularis); and they are 
frequently accompanied by the thrush and the black- 
bird. Though the latter do not sing so long and 
so frequently as in summer, this appears to be more 
on account of the physical languor arising from a 
precarious supply of food than from its not being 
the pairing season. 
“We have one little bird,” says Mr. Knapp, “ the 
woodlark (Alauda arborea), that in the early parts 
of the autumnal months delights us with its har- 
mony; and its carols may be heard in the air com- 
monly during the calm sunny mornings of this sea- 
son. Théy have a softness and quietness perfectly 
in unison with the sober, almost melancholy still- 
ness of the hour. The skylark also sings now, and 
its song is very sweet, full of harmony, cheerful as 
the blue sky and gladdening beam in which it circles 
and sports, and known and admired by all; but the 
voice of the woodlark is local, not so generally 
heard from its softness, must almost be listened for 
to be distinguished, and has not any pretensions to 
* Omithological Dict., Intr. lst ed. ; p. 476, 2d ed. 
