258 Calls and Young Cuckoo Birds. 



decisive statement, to the effect that " careful experi- 

 ments have proved beyond a doubt that each bird's 

 song is really inherited, and that he will sing like his 

 parents, even though he may never have heard their 

 song ; " or, at all events, it furnishes presumably one 

 exception of a very striking kind, that demands very 

 close attention and special experiment. 



Up to this point I was incHned to agree with the 

 following writer in summarising the results reached 

 by Mr. C. Dixon : 



" There is no direct evidence to support the popular 

 belief that young birds, without tuition or experience, 

 warble off the song characteristic of their species ; 

 and every bird-fancier is aware how readily, under 

 suitable conditions, young birds will acquire a song 

 totally unlike what would be expected of it if the 

 inherited ability ruled. Mr. Dixon holds that the 

 songs of birds are acquired by imitation, and that if 

 young birds never heard the song of their species, 

 they would be totally unable to produce it." 



But just then I was brought into correspondence 

 with Mr. C. Campbell about the remarkable cuckoo 

 kept by Mr. Cochrane, of Edinburgh, through read- 

 ing the following paragraph in a London daily in 

 May, 1898 : 



" At the last meeting of the Edinburgh Field 

 Naturalists and Microscopical Society a live cuckoo 

 was exhibited by Mr. Charles Campbell, who stated 

 that it was taken from a meadow-pipit's nest in Wig- 

 townshire in 1896, and was hand-reared. It soon 

 became very tame, and was now a household pet. 

 It was probably the only one of its kind that had 

 survived two winters in this country. Although the 



