including an Inquiry xdiethcr or not they are instinctive. 21 



its future song in these early attempts : as it gained strength 

 and confidence, however, its native notes became very appa- 

 rent; and they continued to improve in tone till the terminal 

 tion of July, when it commenced moulting, which did not, as 

 was expected, put a stop to its recording *. About the mid- 

 dle of August it was in deep moult, and by the beginning of 

 October had acquired most of its new feathers. It now be- 

 gan to execute its song in a manner calculated to remove every 

 doubt as to its being that of the redbreast, had any such pre- 

 viously existed f : its habits also were as decidedly characte- 

 ristic as its notes ; and I am the more particular in noticing 

 this latter circumstance, because the peculiar habits of birds 

 are quite as difficult to account for as the origin of their 

 songs %. Thus it appears from this satisfactory experiment, 

 which was conducted with the utmost care, that, contrary to 

 Mr. Harrington's opinion, the notes of birds, which probably 

 consist of those sounds that their vocal organs are best adapted 

 to produce, are j^ei'fectly innate §. 



Havhig shown that the notes of birds are natural, or, in 

 other words, that they do not depend upon any previous in- 

 struction, it follows that they must furnish the attentive orni- 



* The important operation of moulting undoiibteclly affects the singing 

 of wild birds very considerably ; and may, perhaps, be a principal cause ot 

 their silence in the month of August. The London birdcatchers are well 

 aware of the advantages of occasioning their call-birds to moult prematurely, 

 which, by this means, are brought into full song, while other birds are 

 nearly mute. For an account of the manner in which this is effected see 

 Pennant's British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 3;52. 



f Montagu, in the introduction to his Ornithological Dictionary, p. 29, 

 states, in a note, that " a goldfinch, hatched and fostered by a chaffinch, 

 retained its native notes," but does not give any further particulars respect- 

 ing this bird. 



X Several birds sing in the night, and some warble as they fly. The 

 titlark uses particular notes in ascending and descending, and the song of 

 the white-throat is accompanied with strange gesticulations. Larks and 

 wagtails run; finches and buntings hop; nearly the whole of the gallinaceous 

 and pie tribes, and many species of waterfowl walk ; and woodpeckers climb. 

 The sparrow, skylark, and most of the galVmcB are jntlverati-ices ; and the 

 kestril is, I believe, the only British hawk that hovers. The peculiar modes 

 of flight and nidification are equally remarkable and worthy of notice j but, 

 as they are foreign to the present subject, I shall not now dilate upon 

 them. 



$ Since writing the above, I have met with the following gf;neral asser- 

 tion, unaccompanied by any evidence in support of it, in the Physiogno- 

 mical System of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim ; by J. G. Spurzheim, M.D. se- 

 cond edition, p. 194—5. " Singing birds, moreover, which have been 

 hatched by strange females, sing naturally, and without any instruction, the 

 song of their species as soon as their internal organization is active. Hence 

 the males of every species preserve their natural song, tliough tiiey have 

 been brought uii in tiie society of individuals of a diflerent kind." 



liiologist 



