THE SONG AND NOTES OF BIRDS. 109 



learnt with considerable effort. Especially is this 

 apparent in the case of young Robins, which some- 

 times begin to sing before they have quite lost the 

 spotted dress of their youth. Some fully adult 

 individuals of probably every species are much finer 

 songsters than others, the music apparently im- 

 proving with the age of the bird up to a certain 

 period. I might here remark, that in some few 

 authenticated cases the female has been known to 

 acquire musical powers of high merit ; whilst in 

 most others the power of song is confined to a 

 few low twittering notes which probably represent 

 what was once the best performance of the male 

 at an earlier period in the history of the 

 species, the crude beginning of a song which he 

 has eventually developed into music of bewitching 

 sweetness. 



The various call-notes of birds also form a subject 

 of considerable interest. The variety and the very 

 remarkable utility of these notes are readily apparent 

 to every student of living birds. After a lifetime 

 spent in the task of unravelling and mastering the 

 mysteries of avian speech, I confess my utter ignor- 

 ance of the meaning of an immense and varied 

 assortment of the cries of birds. Some notes are 

 uttered for very obvious reasons, and it is to a 



