SONGS. 269 



summer visitants for several years, finds that they 

 uniformly sing- during- the winter. Of the white-throat 

 (Curruca cinerea. BRISSON) he says, " One that I at 

 present possess will sing for hours together against a 

 nightingale, now in the beginning of January, and 

 it will not suffer itself to be outdone." Of the 

 wheatear (Saxicola cenanthe, B ECKSTEIN), he says, 

 " A pair that I possess at present were caught in 

 September last; began to sing in a few days, and 

 have continued in song ever since ; and now, while 

 writing this, the 22d day of December, they are in 

 full song." Of the nightingale, he says, " It will 

 begin singing at the commencement of December, 

 and continue till June. I had a very fine one that 

 only left off singing the latter end of June ; it began 

 again a little in September, and by the 1st of De- 

 cember it was in full song*." 



Pennant was of opinion that it is chiefly the young 

 male red-breasts of the preceding summer which 

 sing during autumn and winter f. This opinion, if 

 true, would certainly be adverse to the theory of 

 Buffon and Colonel Montagu ; but the thrushes 

 above stated to have been heard singing in October, 

 were not young ones, these being readily distinguish- 

 able, when they first attempt to sing, by particular 

 notes, resembling the following J : 



and 

 sometimes ' 



The recordi?ig of young birds is indeed always 



very different from their song, as is also the warble 



of old birds after moulting, as M. Bechstein has 



justly remarked. " It is," he says, " a very striking 



* British Warblers. t Brit. Zool. ii. 147. 



J J.R. 



2 A3 



