VOCAL. MUSIC. 365 



a first-rate bird will sometimes sing till he drops down almost 

 dead, or according to Bechstein/" quite dead from rupturing a 

 vessel in the lungs. Whatever the cause may be, male birds, as 

 I hear from Mr. Weir, often die suddenly during the season of 

 song. That the habit of singing is sometimes quite independent 

 of love is clear, for a sterile, hybrid canary-bird has been de- 

 scribed" as singing whilst viewing itself in a mirror, and then 

 dashing at its own image; it likewise attacked with fury a fe- 

 male canary, when put into the same cage. The jealousy excited 

 by the act of singing is constantly taken advantage of by bird- 

 catchers; a male, in good song, is hidden and protected, whilst a 

 stuffed bird, surrounded by limed twigs, is exposed to view. In 

 this manner, as Mr. Weir informs me, a man has in the course of 

 a single day caught fifty, and in one instance seventy, male chaf- 

 finches. The power and inclination to sing differ so greatly with 

 birds that although the price of an ordinary male chaffinch is 

 only sixpence, Mr. Weir saw one bird for which the bird-catcher 

 asked three pounds; the test of a really good singer being that 

 it will continue to sing whilst the cage is swung round the owner's 

 head. 



That male birds should sing from emulation as well as for 

 charming the female, is not at all incompatible; and it might 

 have been expected that these two habits would have concurred, 

 like those of display and pugnacity. Some authors, however, 

 argue that the song of the male cannot serve to charm the female, 

 because the females of some few species, such as of the canary, 

 robin, lark, and bullfinch, especially when in a state of widowhood, 

 as Bechstein remarks, pour forth fairly melodious strains. In 

 some of these cases the habit of singing may be in part attributed 

 to the females having been highly fed and confined,^^ for this 

 disturbs all the usual functions connected with the reproduction 

 of the species. Many instances have already been given of the 

 partial transference of secondary masculine characters to the fe- 

 male, so that it is not at all surprising that the females of some 

 species should possess the power of song. It has also been argued, 

 that the song of the male cannot serve as a charm, because the 

 males of certain species, for instance of the robin, sing during 

 the autumn."^ But nothing is more common than for animals to 

 take pleasure in practicing whatever instinct they follow at other 

 times for some real good. How often do we see birds which fiy 

 easily, gliding and sailing through the air obviously for pleasure? 



™ 'Naturgesch. der Stubenvogel,' 1840, s. 252. 



» Mr. Bold, 'Zoologist,' 1843-44, p. 659. 



'^ D. Barrington, 'Phil. Transact.' 1773, p. 262. Bechstein, 'Stuben- 

 vogel,' 1840, s. 4. 



22 This is likewise the case with the water-ouzel, see Mr. Hepburn in 

 the 'Zoologist,' 1845-1846, p. 1068. 



