270 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



circumstance, that birds which continue in song 

 nearly the whole year, such as the red-breast, the 

 siskin, and the goldfinch, are obliged, after their 

 moulting is over, to record, as if they had forgot their 

 song. I am convinced, however, that this exercise 

 is less a study than an endeavour to bring the organs 

 of voice into proper flexibility, what they utter being 

 properly only a sort of warble, of which the notes 

 have almost no resemblance to the perfect song ; and, 

 by a little attention, we may perceive how the throat is 

 gradually brought to emit the notes of the usual song. 

 This view, then, leads us to ascribe the circumstance 

 not to defect of memory, but rather to a roughness in 

 the vocal organs, arising from disuse. It is in this way 

 that the chaffinch (Fringilla spiza) makes endeavours 

 during several successive weeks before attaining to 

 its former perfection, and that the nightingale (Sylvia 

 luscinid) tries, for a long time, to model the strophes 

 of its superb song before it can produce the full 

 extent of compass and brilliance *." 



It might be alleged, indeed, that the old birds who 

 sing in autumn, are influenced by association, inas- 

 much as this season resembles the spring ; for though 

 spring is all youth and verdure, while autumn wears 

 the aspect of decline, and woods and fields, instead 

 of lively green, display nothing but sombre tints of 

 yellow and brown, yet the temperature of the air has 

 much the same mildness, and food is equally if not 

 more abundant. This, however, is a very partial 

 view, with which the continuance of these autumnal 

 songs during winter is altogether inconsistent. 

 Colonel Montagu, however, endeavours to obviate 

 the objection by some ingenious arguments ; and, in 

 support of the general theory, he brings forward 

 experiments tried by himself for that express purpose. 



" The continuation of song," he says, " in caged 

 * Ornithologisches Taschenbuch, Vor. 



