Courtship of Birds 275 



be subject to one rule, and migrants to another, does not 

 dispose of the difficulty. There are many nesting sites of 

 the Stonechat, in this country, occupied year after year by 

 birds whose plumage seems to proclaim them to be immi- 

 grants, but in which one or other of the pair, if not both, 

 must be old friends returned after a winter spent abroad, and 

 why should we suppose that only one sex returns to the old 

 site ? Yet, if both of the pair are the same, and it be 

 conceded that they had paired for life, why do the sexes 

 travel apart, the males arriving days, or even weeks, before 

 their consorts ? Is it possible that they retain their affection 

 for one another, and yet do not spend the winter months 

 together ? It would be interesting if someone, who has 

 had opportunities of observing Stonechats in their winter 

 haunts abroad, could tell us if they are then seen in pairs. 

 If it be objected that there is not sufficient difference in 

 plumage, between migrant and resident Stonechats, to 

 enable the one to be distinguished from the other (as 

 perhaps there may not always be), Wheatears may be 

 substituted for them, without very materially affecting the 

 argument. With the latter, it is true, the sexes are seldom 

 separated by more than a few days ; but it is not very 

 obvious why there should be even this difference, if the 

 birds live together throughout the winter. 



A good deal of theorism is often indulged in on the 

 attractive theme of courtship being the chief cause of bird 

 melody, and the idea is such a pretty one that to risk up- 

 setting it may savour of vandalism ; but however much, 

 or little, singing takes place before pairing, it is obvious 

 that, in every case, most of it follows that ceremony. Very 

 little song is heard before the dispersal of the immigrant 

 bands ; but from the hour a pair take up their residence 

 where they intend to nest, the cock sings incessantly, till 

 the female is sitting, or the young are hatched. His song 

 is, therefore, the outpouring of a contented heart, or a 

 wooing of the bride already brought home, rather than a 

 means to win her. It is a mistake, also, to suppose that 

 singing entirely ceases as soon as the duty of ministering 

 to the wants of a family begins. That may contribute to 



