SONGS. 277 



These opinions did not originate with Harrington, 

 for we find it asserted by father Kircher, that " the 

 young nightingales which are hatched under other 

 birds, never sing till they are instructed by other 

 nightingales* ;" and the author of the ' Physics Curi- 

 osai' says-f, that the young are taught to sing by 

 their mothers, both following Aristotle, who says of 

 the nightingale, " she seems indeed to instruct her 

 young ones, and to repeat to them certain passages 

 for their imitation, as the language does not come 

 naturally in the same manner as the voice, but must 

 be acquired by exercise and study j." The same view 

 lias been adopted by a recent Danish naturalist, 

 M. Garnborg ; and the Hon. and Rev. W. H. 

 Herbert gives a similar statement, which, from his 

 experience in keeping cage-birds, is entitled to our 

 best consideration. " The nightingale," he remarks, 

 " is peculiarly apt, in its first year, when confined, 

 to learn the song of any other bird that it hears. 

 Its beautiful song is the result of long attention to the 

 melody of other birds of its species. The young whin- 

 chat, wheatear, and others of the genus Saxicola, 

 which have little natural variety of song, are no less 

 ready, in confinement, to learn from other species, 

 and become as much better songsters, as the nightin- 

 gale degenerates, by borrowing from others. The 

 bull-finch, whose natural notes are weak, harsh, and 

 insignificant, has a greater facility than any other bird 

 of learning human music. It is pretty evident that the 

 Germans, who bring vast numbers of them to Lon- 

 don, which they have taught to pipe, must have in- 

 structed them more by whistling to them than by an 



* Musurgia, Cap. De Lusciniis. 

 f Page 1200. 

 I Hist. Anim. iv. 49. 



Comment peut ou parvenir a perfectionner le Chant des 

 Oiseaux de nos Bois? 8vo. Copenhague, 1800. 



2 B 



