EVOLUTION OF BIRD-SONG 



(See also The Zoologist, 1867, p. 599.) Near 

 Weston- super -Mare I heard the larks occasionally 

 imitating the cry of the dunlin, which bird abounds 

 there in winter. 



While crossing Salisbury Plain, from Salisbury 

 to Devizes, on 3rd June 1892, I heard scores of 

 larks in full song. I was on the plain for four 

 hours, and the weather being bright, I had abundant 

 opportunities for making observations. Nearly all 

 the songs of larks heard there by me were composed 

 of repetitions of the common call -notes of the 

 species (which may be suggested by worryou and 

 teeuu\ which were uttered in set orders of repetition 

 by different individuals. One bird imitated the 

 house -sparrow's tell tell many times, also the cry 

 of the wagtail a few times. Another lark imitated 

 the yellow bunting's song, and then uttered a low 

 rattle which I could not refer to any bird. 



Many of the larks imitated the cry of the pee- 

 wit ; in fact, their songs consisted almost exclusively 

 of their own call-notes and cries of the common and 

 yellow buntings and the peewit. I never heard 

 one imitation of the robin or blackbird, or of a 

 titmouse. But as I approached Chippenham, on 

 the same day, I again heard these familiar imita- 

 tions ; and one song, heard six miles from Devizes, 





