194 ORIGIN OF THE SONGS OF BIRDS. 



a repetition of one and the same note, is retained during 

 life, and is generally common to both male and female. 

 This stage in the notes of birds, is called recording, and 

 is the first attempt of the nestling to sing, it may be 

 aptly compared to the first attempts of the child to talk. 

 At first, we are not able to perceive the least rudiment 

 of the future song, but as the bird grows older and stron- 

 ger, we see what he is aiming at. When the nestling is 

 once sure of his strain, he commonly raises his voice, 

 and sings out boldly ; but he hurries over those parts of 

 which he is not perfect master, lowering his voice as if 

 he could not yet satisfy himself, and did not wish to be 

 heard. The young bird commonly continues to record 

 for ten or eleven months, when he is able to execute ev- 

 ery part of his song, which afterwards continues fixed, 

 and is scarcely ever altered. When the bird is thus 

 perfect in his lesson, he is said to sing his song round. 



Emily. Every species, I believe, has its own pecu- 

 liar song does this difference of song depend on a spe- 

 cific difference in the structure of the vocal organs ? 



Dr. B. It would seem very rational to suppose, that 

 the physical organs being different, the sounds they pro- 

 duce, would be so of course. Yet it has been said that 

 the song of birds is no more innate, than language in 

 man, but depends on the master under which they are 

 b re . f ]__ S Q far at least as their organs will enable them to 

 imitate the sounds they hear. In proof of this opinion, 

 many experiments have been related, in which birds 

 have been taken from the nest while quite young, and re- 

 moved to those of a different species. The results were, 

 that the birds thus removed, had the song of their foster 

 parents, and not of their own species. 



Emily. These experiments then are perfectly satis- 

 factory, I should think, in proving the truth of the opin- 

 ion, that their songs are learnt, and not innate. 



Dr. B. So it would seem, but most unluckily four or 

 five years ago, (these experiments were performed in 

 the last century) an intermeddling naturalist took it into 



