4 INTRODUCTION 



birds, which have been taken from the nest when very young, 

 are able to retain portions of snch tunes as are daily played or 

 whistled in their presence ; but only a few, particularly dis- 

 tinguished for docility, entirely forsake and forget their natural 

 song. A young Goldfinch, for example, learns passages of the 

 airs which are being taught to a Bullfinch in the same room ; 

 but is very far from ever equalling the latter in the perfectness 

 of his repetition. Nor can this be accounted for, as many sup- 

 pose, by the greater or less plasticity of the organs of voice, 

 but must be attributed rather to the various degrees of memory 

 with which different birds are endowed. There are also cer- 

 tain species, such as Parrots and Jays, which have a broad, 

 undivided tongue, enabling them to imitate articulate sounds ; 

 these are said to speak. 



Birdsellers and amateurs, however, classify the Songs of 

 birds in the following manner : The bird warbles or quavers, 

 when it always repeats the passages or single notes of its song 

 in precisely the same order ; such is the song of the Night- 

 ingale and the Chaffinch. It sings when it utters the chirp- 

 ing or twittering song, intermixed with most distinct notes, 

 without observing any regular succession, as is the case with 

 the Redbreast and Siskin. And then only it whistles or pipes, 

 when its song consists of distinct, round, flute-like notes ; as, 

 for instance, that of the Linnet and the trained Bullfinch. 



Some birds sing throughout the day ; some are heard early 

 in the morning; others in the evening; and a few seem to prefer 

 the silence of night. Some prefer to sing in company ; others 

 are mute except when alone. The Nightingale, for instance, is 

 silent in the daytime, and sings only in the evening, or even 

 at night. It seems indeed as if the queen of Song Birds was 

 conscious of the superiority of her powers, and disdained to 

 raise Tier voice amid the various noises of day, and the cry and 

 twitter of other birds, but reserved it for a period when it 

 could be better heard and more fully appreciated by men. 



Tt is remarkable, that all birds which, unlike the Eedbreast, 

 Siskin, or Bullfinch, do not sing throughout the year, appear to 

 forget their song during the process of moulting, and have to learn 

 it again every spring. The fact, however, does not seem to me, 

 to be thus rightly described. The practising, which goes by 

 the name of learning, or recording , is only a kind of exercise 

 of the organs, in order that they may again easily produce the 

 accustomed tones ; and consists, not of notes or passages which 



