524 



SCIENCE, 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 353. 



into the wire until there were no loose 

 ends. Ultimately thick bunches of thread 

 and string on the bars characterized the 

 cage. 



I have told all this detail, really foreign 

 to my thesis, because it seems important to 

 record an inheritance so marked. The 

 birds never learned to do more with 

 threads than is here described, though they 

 were ultimately allowed a room to live in 

 with branches of trees to alight on, etc., 

 and at least one of them laid eggs in an 

 artificial nest. 



On February 16, 1896, I took the birds 

 by train from Boston to New York, where 

 they spent the succeeding months until 

 May 6 in a room in a large hotel. I wish 

 to emphasize again two facts : both birds 

 were females though I was not absolutely 

 sure of it at this period, and, so far as I am 

 aware, they heard no birds sing after I took 

 them from their parents when about five 

 days old, until after I took them to the 

 country again on May 6, as will presently 

 be related. 



After reaching New York it was found 

 expedient to keep them in separate cages 

 when confined, though they were daily al- 

 lowed much liberty at large in the room. 

 During the last of February a partial moult 

 occurred in both birds. This was chiefly 

 the feathers of the head, throat and back. 

 The wing and tail feathers were not shed. 



Till now the two birds had looked so 

 much alike, that in order to readily distin- 

 guish them I had early in October clipped 

 the tips of the secondary feathers in one of 

 Timmy's wings. This was a distinct mark 

 even with the wings closed. But with the 

 moult I am about to discuss, the birds 

 ceased to be alike in appearance and were 

 readily recognized. 



Timmy in this moult acquired a dis- 

 tinct black throat patch, some black arrow- 

 shaped marks in the feathers of the top of 

 the head and decidedly dusky patches about 



the region of the ears. The throat patch 

 extended over the throat proper. The en- 

 tire period taken in completing this moult 

 was about three weeks. 



The other bird. Driver, did not acquire 

 any decided black marking about the head, 

 throat or ears, and only showed a few scat- 

 tered tiny black feathers. 



Before this moult was quite completed, 

 during the latter part of February, the 

 birds began to sing. The interval between 

 the singing was sometimes several days, 

 and only a very few minutes in each day 

 were devoted to song. This song was very 

 low and soft, and more or less broken, 

 reminding one of the song of the white- 

 throated sparrow {Z. albicoUis) as it is 

 heard during the fall and in the early spring 

 migrations. 



Timmy was the first to sing in this way, 

 and the period of song when noticed was 

 brief, not lasting more than about one min- 

 ute. The song was not heard again for 

 several days. Then it became of daily oc- 

 currence, and was gradually more prolonged 

 and better sustained. About five days after 

 Timmy began to sing. Driver sang also. 

 Driver soon became the chief singer, so that 

 Timmy's weaker song was not so noticeable. 

 But both increased in volume, and frequency 

 all through the month of March, and during 

 April and the first half of May while day- 

 light lasted, the song was incessant in both 

 birds. It was now a loud clear series of 

 notes of great brilliancy, and poured forth 

 in such rapid succession as to be like that of 

 the house wren ( T. aedon) in the intervals, 

 and lasting about as long as the warble of 

 that bird. Except for the ' rattle ' which was 

 now and then a part of the repertoire, this 

 song had nothing in it that reminded one 

 of the song of the Baltimore oriole as heard 

 in New York, Massachusetts or at any 

 point where the birds occur. Through the 

 second week in May, the song of both birds 

 gradually diminished. 



