A SINGING ENGLISH SPARROW 289 



of his cage a great part of the time, and gen- 

 erally returns to it of his own accord, evi- 

 dently feeling that it is home. 



Even the adult bird can learn a new song. 

 I have known of two cases, one of which I 

 saw and heard myself, of a captive English 

 sparrow learning the song of a canary, and 

 giving it perfectly, with all its trills and 

 quavers. 



If, in studying these most fascinating little 

 creatures, we could clear our minds of the 

 old notions of instinct, it would be a help to 

 rational understanding of their lives. Lloyd 

 Morgan has done much by his experiments 

 with birds hatched in incubators, to eradi- 

 cate the popular belief in blind instinct, but 

 more remains to be done. Here is a fruitful 

 field for some of our active young bird-stu- 

 dents to occupy. A field, too, which does not 

 require the killing or even disturbing of 

 parent birds, or stealing their young. For 

 to be conclusive the experiment must begin 

 with the incubator, and the domesticated 

 species are best and most convenient for the 

 purpose. 



We laugh at the myths and fables by 



