42 BIRD NOTES 



the softness of the tone ; the bird seemed to feel 

 the difference as much as I did. 



I think the robin must have inherited the 

 notion that its name is Bob, and that it is the 

 bird beloved by man. It is certainly better fitted 

 to be his companion than the other small birds ; 

 it catches the invitation in the human eye more 

 readily, and understands man better. I had a 

 duet with a robin lately. I ' bob-bob-bobbed ' my 

 sweetest, and he, sitting overhead in a bay-tree, 

 answered each time with an elaborate strain 

 which seemed to be never twice the same. 

 Whether it was intended to eclipse mine or to 

 respond to it I cannot "say, but the bird seemed 

 delighted, and was so much excited that he 

 appeared ready to hop down upon me. 



I feel sure that among the birds themselves 

 there is competitive singing. I have often heard 

 two and even three robins, perched on different 

 garden-walls and answering each other, each time 

 with a different strain, and evidently trying to 

 outdo each other. I have also seen a blackcap 

 and a whitethroat sing at each other, perched on 

 two boughs of the same tree. Each appeared to 

 be trying to sing the loudest, till at last they flew 

 at each other, like two angry dogs. Sometimes I 

 have thought that the duet between two robins 

 has been a singing-lesson, and that the less capable 



