VI On the Songs of Birds 139 



taken by the immediate necessities and comforts of 

 life — the abundance of food, and the gratifying 

 warmth of the summer — until the time of moult. 



Persistence in singing long after the breeding 

 season is noticeable in some other birds, and is 

 especially well known in the case of the Robin. The 

 Common Wren, the Thrush, the Hedge-sparrow, the 

 Chaffinch, the Great Tit, and a near relation of the 

 Yellowhammer, the Corn-Bunting, will also sing the 

 greater part of the year, — the first three in every 

 month from January to December. Let us notice, 

 by the way, that these are all extremely hardy birds, 

 which stay with us throughout the year, and rarely, 

 in our moist and fertile country, find themselves 

 without abundance of food : for it may, I think, be 

 taken as a good rule, that of singing birds those 

 which are the hardiest and most easily supplied 

 with food are the most persistent, if not always the 

 best songsters. 



Let us note one or two facts about two of these, 

 the Eobin and the Chaffinch. The Eobin, indefatig- 

 able singer as he is, is not to be heard — or very 

 rarely — in July and the early part of August. 

 Seldom indeed will you see him at this time, 

 unless you happen to be prying after some plant or 

 insect in a wood, where you may surprise him in 

 a forlorn state of moult, very indignant at being 

 discovered in such a predicament. But no sooner is 



