286 IN A LOG CAMP 



is still always a certain family quality or 

 manner by which one may recognize the spe- 

 cies. Rarely do two robins arrange their 

 simple notes in the same way, yet one never 

 fails to recognize the voice of a robin. It is 

 the same with orioles, thrushes, and all others. 



A noteworthy thing about a bird's song 

 is, that he has to learn it, it does " not 

 come by Nature/' as was formerly believed. 

 This has been amply proved, both by hearing 

 the youngsters at their music-lessons, and by 

 the fact that birds reared away from their 

 kind learn the song of whoever happens to 

 be their neighbor. A gentleman in Brooklyn 

 picked up a chewink too young to fly, and 

 reared it in a cage which stood next to a 

 European ortolan. He learned the complete 

 song of his neighbor and sang it always, even 

 after a singing-bird of his own species had 

 been placed beside him to see if he would 

 recognize his native notes. 



Another case is of two rose-breasted gros- 

 beaks reared from the nest by a friend in 

 New Hampshire. They sang freely, but never 

 the song of their family, and an English spar- 

 row in the same house sang a robin-song. 



