156 BRITISH BIRDS. 



When the male bird assists in the rearing of the young he 

 finds another outlet for his energy, and this is the explanation 

 of the cessation of song in May or June, and also of the 

 occasional outbursts from birds whose nests have been robbed. 

 Once through the moult, and free from the arduous duties of 

 the nursery, the abundance of food in late summer explains the 

 well-known autumnal songs of so many birds. This is by no 

 means confined to the Passer es. I have often watched Coots, 

 Grebes, Grouse, Snipe, Lapwings and several other birds going 

 through their so-called "love performances" in August, 

 September, October, and even later still. This phenomenon 

 is always dependent upon the abundance of food, and the 

 scarcity of enemies to repose. It is an interesting fact, and 

 one that can hardly be a mere coincidence, that the 

 commonest birds have the most extended song-periods. This 

 is exactly what one would expect under the theory that song 

 is the result of superfluous vitality. 



Song must be a useful guide to the female in her choice of 

 a mate. In choosing the noisiest she is unconsciously 

 securing the male with the most superabundant energy. 

 When the young are hatched this stored-up vitality will be 

 turned into another more useful channel. And if the male 

 takes no part in the rearing of the young the song is still 

 useful to the species in another way. The whereabouts of the 

 singer is evident to birds or animals of prey, and the useless 

 bird is bundled off the scene to leave more room for the 

 coming chicks. At least, this would be Stolzman's explana- 

 tion. It is surely going too far to grant aesthetic tastes to 

 birds when the most generous of us cannot allow them in by 

 far the greater number of our own species. The human 

 animal, when he sings instinctively, acts under exactly the same 

 impulse that moves the bird. Surely sex has nothing to do 

 with the singing of children, or with the half-conscious 

 humming of an adult engaged in a simple task ! 



It would take up too much space to cite instances in 

 support of the statement that bird-song is not connected 

 except indirectly with sexual affairs, and that it is at all times 

 and in all birds nothing but the overflowing of the vitality 

 that cannot be stored or used up in any other way. But 

 bearing this explanation in mind it should not be difficult to 

 understand many of the puzzles that are quite insoluble by 

 means of the present theories of song. 



Fredk. J. Stubbs. 



A young Robin — one of a brood hatched in May — comes 

 daily into our house in search of food. Having satisfied its 



