328 APPENDIX. VI. 



a repetition of one and the same note; is retain- 

 ed by the bird as long as it lives, and is com- 

 mon, generally, to both the cock and hen.* 



The next stage in the notes of a bird is term- 

 ed, by the bird-catchers, recording, which word 

 is probably derived from a musical instrument, 

 formerly used in Etigland, called a recorder.f 



This attempt in the nestling to sing, may be 



compared to the imperfect endeavour in a child 



to babble. I have known instances of birds 



beginning to record when they were not a month 



■ pld. 



This first essay does not seem to have the 

 least rudiments of the future song ; but as the 

 bird grows older and stronger, one may begin 

 to perceive what the nestling is aiming at. 



Whilst the scholar is thus endeavouring to 

 form his song, when he is once sure of a pas- 



* For want of terms to distinguish the notes of birds, Bclon 

 applies the verb chantent, or sing, to the goose and crane, as well 

 as the nightingale. " Plusieurs oiseaux chantent la nuit, 

 comme est I'oye, la grue, & le rossignol." Belons Hist, of 

 Birds, p. 50. 



■f It seems to have been a species of flute, and was probably 

 used to teach young birds to pipe tunes. 



Lord Bacon describes this instrument to have been strait, to 

 have had a lesser and greater bore, both above and below, to 

 have required very little breath from the blower, and to have had 

 what he calls a Jipple, or stopper. See his second Century of 

 Experiments^ 



