GENESIS OF BIRD SONG. g? 



Some years ago I was tramping and sketch- 

 ing in the beautiful hilly region of Western 

 Florida. During the spring-time, especially, 

 I spent a great deal of my leisure studying 

 the song and habits of the mocking-bird. One 

 morning, while a fine moquer, as the Creoles 

 call our king of song-birds, was charming me 

 with his Wonderful vocalization, the question 

 arose in my mind : When did a mocking-bird 

 first sing ? Of course the inquiry could not 

 be answered ; but it suggested a broad field of 

 special research. Why not ask of Nature 

 the general question, When did birds first 

 sing ? or : What is the genesis of bird-song ? 

 I lay in the shade of a wide-topped live-oak 

 and brooded over the fascinating problem, 

 while a sweet breeze from the Gulf stirred 

 the sprays overhead, and rippled the silvery 

 bosom of a little lake that lapped the sand at 

 my feet. Gradually enough I formulated a 

 plan of investigation which I have followed, 

 as far as my ability to profit by my own dis- 

 coveries and those of others has permitted. 



At first thought it may seem trivial to pro- 

 pose an inquiry into the origin of bird- song; 

 but a little reflection upon the subject will be 

 sufficient to enlist the interest of almost any 

 mind. All things have had a beginning, and 

 so there was a time when no music of 

 " swelling throats " filled the air of spring. 

 Somewhere the first cat-bird sang in a brier- 

 tangle, the first brown thrush flooded a 

 thicket with its melody, the first mocking- 

 bird filled the day and night with incompar- 

 able rhapsody ; at least one imagines as much ; 

 and then the Garden of Eden appears in the 

 distance, some six or seven thousand years 

 away. There it was that birds and bird-song 

 had their beginning, just in time to welcome 



