172 Bird Comrades 



When the wild birds came about him he entertained them 

 by whistling his favorite air, which sent the birds off in 

 a panic." 



Do not the facts recited in this sketch prove that birds 

 know and acquire some things through the promptings 

 of instinct, while other things they can learn only by 

 avian teaching? 



My notes on instinct and education in bird song corre- 

 spond with the conviction expressed by Dr. W. H. Hudson 

 on page 257 of his interesting book entitled "The Natur- 

 alist in La Plata," fourth edition, 1903: "It is true that 

 Daines Barrington's notion that young song birds learn 

 to sing only by imitating the adults, still holds its ground; 

 and Darwin gives it his approval in his * Descent of Man'. 

 It is perhaps one of those doctrines which are partly 

 true, or which do not contain the whole truth; and it is 

 possible to believe that, while many singing birds do so 

 learn their songs, or acquire a greater proficiency in them 

 from hearing the adults, in other species the song comes 

 instinctively, and is, like other instincts and 'habits, 

 purely an 'inherited memory'." What Dr. Hudson sur- 

 mises may be the case, I believe my experiments have 

 proved to be true. 



