282 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 504. 



March, 1903. The present condition of the 

 volcano is shown by the following extract from 

 a letter to the author written July 13, 1904, 

 by Eev. Thomas Huckerby of Chateau Belair, 

 St. Vincent: 



The general condition of things is far different 

 from what it was twelve months ago. At the 

 present time tliere is very little emission of steam 

 from the fissures which formed themselves in the 

 ejecta left inside the crater after the last erup- 

 tion. The surface of the lake is gradually widen- 

 ing, which result is brought about by the falling 

 down of the ashy sides of the immense bowl. 

 Large quantities of material from the top of the 

 perpendicular windward side are falling in, which 

 cause will ultimately bring back the gradual de- 

 clivity of former years. I should say that the 

 ci'ater, from east to west, is considerably over a 

 mile in diameter. There is still a very strong 

 smell of sulphuretted hydrogen, which at times is 

 perceptible at Chateau Belair. It is surprising to 

 find that much of the vegetation especially near 

 the base of the mountain has survived through all 

 the adverse circumstances of the past two years; 

 even the maroon tree is throwing out shoots from 

 its battered and charred roots. The mongoose 

 has found his way back to a point above the Half- 

 Way Tree. I think that we may with safety con- 

 clude that the god Vulcan has quietened down to 

 another period of rest as far as St. Vincent is 

 concerned. 



Mr. Huckerby also forwards a photograph 

 of the interior of the crater which indicates 

 not only a widening of the lake due to the 

 falling in of the walls, but also a rise due to 

 the accumulation of water. It is evident that 

 the mountain is rapidly resuming its former 

 condition and appearance under the influence 

 of the agencies which tend towards the rapid 

 decomposition of rock material in the tropics. 

 Edmund Otis Hovey. 



American Museum of Natural History, 

 August 4, 1904. 



SPECIAL AB.TICLE8. 

 THE INHERITANCE OF SONG IN PASSERINE BIRDS. 



Further Observation on the Development of 



Song and Nest-building in Hand-reared 



Rose-breasted Grosbeahs, Zamelodia 



Ludoviciana (Linnwus). 



In a paper published in Science, June 24, 



1904,* I have recorded some observations in 



* Science, N. S., Vol. XIX., No. 495, pp. 957- 

 959, June 24, 1904. 



regard to the growth, plumage and song of 

 hand-reared rose-breasted grosbeaks. It is the 

 purpose of the present paper to carry these 

 observations a step further and to describe 

 what occurred to the birds after they were 

 mated, as recorded in the foregoing paper. 



About the third week in May, 1904, the song 

 of the two male birds, each of which now had 

 a mate, became crystallized and assumed a 

 definite character, which was almost alike in 

 both, but was absolutely and entirely different 

 from the song of the rose-breasted grosbeak as 

 it is heard when wild out of doors. I have 

 had for some years in a cage one of the green 

 bulbuls of India, known as Hardwick's bulbul, 

 Chloropsis hardwichii, Jardine & Selby. This 

 bird is singularly persistent in singing for 

 about nine months in the year. It is a male. 

 My two pairs of rose-breasted grosbeaks were 

 in a cage adjacent to that of the bulbul, and 

 by the middle of May of the present year the 

 songs of the two male grosbeaks were so 

 closely an imitation of the insistent song of the 

 bulbul that it was difficult, when not looking 

 at the birds, to tell which species was singing. 

 I may say that the song of the green bulbul is 

 emphatic, clear, high-pitched, rather melo- 

 dious and delivered so that the whole does not 

 occupy more time than does the song of the 

 song sparrow, which, in a certain way, this 

 song resembles. The song of the rose-breasted 

 grosbeak as heard in wild birds I should de- 

 scribe as being like that of the robin, but more 

 melodious and richer, and uttered with much 

 greater deliberation. It will be perceived that 

 the contrast between this kind of song and that 

 of the bulbul is great. This song was con- 

 stant and of daily occurrence throughout the 

 last ten days of May and the whole of June, 

 but ceased and was given up entirely by July 4. 



During the whole of May (the pairs having 

 mated and being in different cages), the 

 process of mating, and later the matters of 

 nest-building and laying were carried on as I 

 shall now set forth. After much preliminary 

 courting on the part of the males, which was 

 accompanied by some severe quarrels between 

 the mating birds, thej' finally became paired. 

 These quarrels were at times so severe that it 

 was essential to separate the birds for periods 



