VI On the Songs of Birds 141 



No bird insists on repeating the same phrase so 

 constantly; and if its only object is to charm the 

 hearts of the females, the hen Chaffinches must 

 have a truly marvellous faculty for never-ending ad- 

 miration of the commonplace. The males begin to 

 practise their one phrase early in February, or even 

 sooner; and ludicrous indeed are the efforts they 

 make. These are partly, perhaps, the younger birds 

 picking up the song from memory, partly the older 

 ones whose strength is still hardly equal to the whole 

 of it. For to sing is a great effort to a bird not in 

 perfect condition, and even in the height of their 

 spring vitality it is no small task for many of the 

 slighter-built ; it cannot be properly done when the 

 bird is ill, or moulting, or underfed. And the 

 Chaffinch, lusty as he is, even in the winter, is not 

 equal to the strain until the sun has warmed him 

 and brought him better food. I have known him 

 sit on a bough by the hour together, hammering 

 away at his song and tumbling over it in his clumsy 

 efforts ; but in two or three days he will usually 

 have got it perfect. 



When once this industrious practiser has accom- 

 plished it even to the last " twee-o," he is never weary 

 of it. Few persons know how extraordinary his 

 persistence is; had Darwin known, I doubt if he 

 could have accounted for it either as practice, or as 

 courting or rivalry. Both in England and on the 



