44 ON THE NOTES OF BIRDS. 
may be remarked that if they are not heard so fre- 
quently and earnestly after pairing as before, most 
probably it is because they are occupied in attending 
to the females; and I have already observed that 
their amatory notes, which they chiefly use at this 
period, are totally different from their ordinary songs. 
When the hens are sitting, or by any accident happen 
to be separated from their mates, the attention of the 
latter is much less engrossed; their notes of love are 
suspended, and their customary strains renewed. It 
is a very mistaken notion of Montagu that the songs 
of these birds cease immediately when their eggs are 
hatched, as, in numerous instances, it is notorious that 
they continue even for some time after the young have 
left the nest. Surely it is needless to insist that it 
cannot be love which prompts the young males to at- 
tempt their songs so soon as they are known to do* ; 
besides, it has been shown that when educated early 
under other species, they sometimes possess their notes 
exclusively, which would hardly be the case if love is 
their only motive for singing. 
For the information of those persons who may wish 
to be acquainted with the Singing Birds found in the 
neighbourhood of Manchester, I subjoin the following 
catalogue. 
* Young birds frequently begin to practise their songs when 
only a month old. 
