THE FAERY YEAR 



Dr. Japp whose ardent letters to me on nature, 

 written from a bed of pain and sickness, I have been 

 glancing at told me that years ago he put it to 

 Herbert Spencer that birds will sing from a variety 

 of joy-impulses. He referred to robins, water 

 ouzels, and other birds singing even in mid-winter, 

 during transient gleams of sunshine. Herbert 

 Spencer replied that he was sure there were good 

 reasons for rejecting the theory that song was simply 

 sexual. He reminded Dr. Japp that there was 

 " abundant disproof of the Darwinian view " in his 

 " Origin and Functions of Music," published in the 

 earlier two-volume collection of essays. If Darwin 

 had watched English birds in the woods and fields 

 from August to February, when the courting season 

 begins in earnest, he would, I believe, have con- 

 cluded that many sing earnestly and often without 

 thought of mates or rivals. Take the hedge sparrow 

 and the wren. True, the hedge sparrow is mostly 

 seen in autumn and winter with a mate ; I incline to 

 think it pairs for life ; but there is no good reason 

 to suppose that it sings in November or December 

 to please its mate or to ensure its position against 

 rivals. The same with the wren, whose dainty 

 ditties at this time are hardly inferior to those he 

 gives in April or May whilst he is nest-making. 

 Cock wrens that are paired now, and going about 

 with their mates of last spring, sing merrily on dull 

 days as well as bright ; and so do many unpaired 

 wrens. There is no real sign of competition or 

 jealousy for mates about these lyrics ; they do not 

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