160 RELATION OF SONG TO THE TERRITORY 



capable of reaching the higher notes to which 

 I am accustomed. 



Now the immature Reed-Bunting, though to 

 our ears its song is but a poor representation 

 of that of the adult, gains a mate ; the Yellow 

 Bunting pairs, and the discharge of the sexual 

 function may even have taken place before its 

 voice attains what we judge to be its full 

 development ; and there are no grounds for 

 supposing that the Donegal Chaffinch, with its 

 less musical notes, has on that account any 

 the less chance of procreating its kind facts 

 which demonstrate that the biological value 

 of song is neither to be sought in the purity 

 of tone, nor in the variety and combination of 

 phrases, nor, indeed, in any of those qualities 

 by which the human voice gains or loses merit, 

 and which leave us with no alternative but to 

 dismiss from our minds all aesthetic considera- 

 tions in the attempt to estimate its true 

 significance. 



What, then, determines its value? Are 

 there any qualities which, whether the bird is 

 mature or immature, whether it is untrained 

 or has acquired fuller expression by practice, 

 whether it inhabits this district or that, are 

 alike constant? Well, no matter how great 

 the variation, no matter how much this voice 

 falls below or exceeds the standard, judged 

 from the human standpoint, attained by that, 

 even we, with our duller perception, have no 

 difficulty in recognising the species to which 

 the owner of the voice belongs ; in other 



