October 1, 1897.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



225 



>MlUUSTRATED MAGAZINE J%r 



MEaiTERATUfiE 



LONDON: OCTOBER 1, 1897. 



CONTENTS. 



PAftE 



Bird-Songs in Autumn. By Chaeles A. 'SVitcheli ... 225 



Greek Vase Painting in Italy. Bt H. B. Walters, M.A., 



F.S.A. (Illustrated) ' 226 



The Prime Movers of Nerve and Muscle 230 



Calcium in the Sun. By Miss Agnes M. Cleeke. (Illt/s- 



trated) ! 232 



Some New Views as to the Planet Venus. Bv Camilie 



Flammarion, F.R.A.S. (Illustrated) (Plate)' 13-1 



Letters: — David Flaneby ; Lionei. Jertis 236 



Notices of Books 237 



Shoet Notices 23S 



Books Received ... ... ... ... ... ... 233 



British Ornithological Notes. Conducted bv Harry F. 



WiTHERUY, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U ' 2H9 



Science Notes ... ... 240 



Coming Cold. By Alex. B. MacDowall, M.A. (Illustrated) 241 

 On the Vegetation and Some of the Vegetable Pro- 

 ductions of Australasia. — IV. By W. BoiriNa 



Hemsley, F.B.S., F.L.S 242 



The Pedigree of the Dog. By K. Lydekkeb, F.R.S. ... 244 

 The Face of the Sky for October. By Heebert Sadlee, 



F.R.A.S 247 



Chess Column. By C. D. Locock, B.A.Oxon 247 



M 



BIRD-SONGS IN AUTUMN. 



By Charles A. Witchell. 



'ANY naturalists of successive generations, from 

 Crilbert White to 0. V. Aplin, have noticed the 

 singing of birds iu autumn. ]\Ir. Aplin appa- 

 rently distinguishes a true autumn song as one 

 preceded and followed by a period in which the 

 song is not heard. Some autumnal songs he correctly 

 states to be merely the commencement of the spring songs. 

 " Such are the songs of the thrush, robin, hedge sparrow, 

 and starling." (" The Autumn Song of Birds," The 

 Zouloi/ist, 1894, page -110.) In stating that these birds 

 commence in November (or even in October), Mr. Aplin 

 appears not to be accurate, for the robin begms in July, 

 and the wren and starling early in August. 



Scientifically considered, the autumn song is chiefly 

 valuable as atfording evidence that the singer is not 

 merely obeying an uncontrollable erotic impulse, but is 

 actuated by what may be called higher and more elaborate 

 motives ; and it also suggests that these motives may 

 operate at other seasons. There is, however, some 

 difficulty in establishing the occurrence of a true autumn 

 song, for the few birds which seem to render it most 

 clearly in September — chifi'chaifs and willow wrens — 

 contrast with the great silent majority of their species. 



Probably the September singers are not one-twentieth of 

 those which sang incessantly in May. It seems that in 

 different localities the period of song may vary, since Mr. 

 Aplin, in the paper above quoted, mentions the willow 

 wren as becoming silent soon after the middle of June, 

 and striking up again about the second week in August. 

 This may be true of the Oxfordshire birds ; but in my 

 present neighbourhood (Bexley, Kent) the willow wren 

 becomes silent in mid-June, but recommences iu full 

 strength in the first week of July, and continues till the 

 middle of August ; after which only one or two of them 

 will be heard. I have noticed the same incidents in 

 Gloucestershire. My observations on the robin and 

 starling are to the same ett'ect. In a garden at 

 Stroud, where I lived for many years, birds were common 

 throughout the year, except in spring, when the robins 

 retired to the woods to breed, and the starlings led oil' 

 their broods (iu May). Both species returned in the first 

 days of August, and began to sing. They continued in 

 song (except during severe weather) until the time for 

 departure next year ; but the starlings shortly before 

 leaving were of course too busy with their broods to do 

 much singing. In Kent the same habits seem to prevail, 

 only the robins begin to sing earlier — by the middle of 

 July. It seems, therefore, rather difficult to identify a 

 true autumn song in either of these species, or in the 

 willow wren. The same remarks apply to the brown wren, 

 which sings loudly at the end of July and early in August. 

 On the other hand, our best warblers, such as the 

 nightingale, blackcap, and garden warbler, are practically 

 never heard in autumn— a fact which Mr. Aplin observed. 

 It is clear that some birds sing only during the breeding 

 season (<•.;/., nightingale, redstart, and tree pipit), while 

 others sing on after the close of this period. In attempt- 

 ing to discover the causes of this dissimilarity, we should 

 be careful to remember that the arguments applied to one 

 species may be quite inappropriate to another. The 

 motives inducing song may be quite different in different 

 species. In one, pugnacity — in another, erotism, may 

 prevail. For instance, the robin and thrush seem always 

 to sing before fighting with others of their kind, but not 

 when fighting with birds not of their own race ; and in the 

 robin this habit is as constant in autumn as in spring. It 

 would be well, therefore, to analyze each bird's song by 

 ascertaining the meaning of any particular cries it con- 

 tains, and thus to glean the purport of the whole exclama- 

 tion. In the case of the lark, the first autumn song is 

 generally a mere repetition of the plaintive call of the 

 young, with other call-notes. It may be objected that this 

 does not constitute a song ; but, on the other hand, nothing 

 is more clear than that much of the song of the adult 

 consists of call-notes repeated with some slight variation, 

 or with none at all. In September many larks (probably 

 birds of the year) begin to "peet" and chirrup a good 

 deal as they fly ; and they gradually advance in variation 

 during October and November. If the weather be mild 

 during the darker months, they sing throughout the 

 season ; but as a spell of cold generally occurs early in 

 December, the birds become silent at that time. 



I do not know when the young starling begins to sing, 

 but the old birds undoubtedly resume song in August, and 

 continue to the spring, unless stopped by want of food in 

 the cold season. The only feature distinguishing the 

 autumn songs of the starling and robin from the spring 

 songs, is the absence of the call in the former and the 

 repetition of the call by the latter bird — as already 

 mentioned.* Both birds sing on every fine autumn day, 



* " Bird-Songs ia Summer," Knowledoe, page 157, July antea. 



