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attempt to rear a family is made. It would seem as though a mild 
temperature, and the abundance of food by which it is generally 
accompanied, prompt the physiological alteration that inspires 
the males of most birds to indulge in the Song peculiar to them. 
Thus after the accomplishment of the annual MoULT, the most 
critical epoch in the life of any bird, cock THRUSHES, SKYLARKS 
and others begin to sing, not indeed with the jubilant voice of 
spring, but in an uncertain cadence which is quickly silenced by 
the supervention of cold weather.t Yet some birds we have which, 
except during the season of moult, hard frost and time of snow, 
sing almost all the year round. Of these the REDBREAST and the 
WREN are familiar examples, and the Cuirr-CHAFF repeats its two- 
noted cry, almost to weariness, during the whole period of its 
residence in this country.? 
Akin to the “Song” of Birds, and undoubtedly proceeding from 
the same cause, are the peculiar gestures which the males of many 
perform under the influence of the approaching season of pairing, 
but these again are far too numerous here to describe with particu- 
larity. It must suffice to mention a few cases. The RurrF on his 
hillock in a marsh holds a war-dance. The Snipe and some of his 
allies mount aloft and wildly execute unlooked-for evolutions 
almost in the clouds. The Woopcock and many of the NIGHTJARS 
beat evening after evening the same aerial path with its sudden and 
sharp turnings. The Ring-DovVE rises above the neighbouring trees 
and then with motionless wings slides down to the leafy retreat 
they afford. The CAPERCALLY and BLACKCOCK, perched on a 
commanding eminence, throw themselves into postures that defy 
the skill of the caricaturist ’—other species of the Grouse-tribe 
assume the strangest attitudes and run in circles till the turf is 
worn bare. The PEACOCK in pride spreads his train so as to shew 
how nearly akin are the majestic and the ridiculous. The BowEr- 
BIRD, not content with his own splendour, builds an arcade, decked 
with bright feathers and shining shells, or arranges a trim garden 
with moss and newly-plucked flowers, through and around which 
he paces with his gay companions. The LARKS and PIPITs never 
deliver their song so well as when seeking the upper air. RooKs 
rise one after the other to a great height and, turning on their 
1 Jenyns (Obser. Nat. Hist. pp. 86-102) has some good notes on the singing of 
Birds, and particularly as to the time of its beginning in the morning. 
2 A curious question, which has as yet attracted but little attention, is 
whether the notes of the same species of Bird are in all countries alike. From my 
own observation I am inclined to think that they are not, and that there exist 
‘¢ dialects,” so to speak, of the song. (Cf Gloger, Jour. fiir Orn. 1859, p. 398 ; 
Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoél. Harvard, ii. pp. 166, 167.) 
3 The singular fact that during the paroxysms that attend this performance of 
the Capercally the bird becomes deaf has long been known to foresters, but it 
has been only of late explained (cf. HAr, p. 178). 
