35 6 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



gested, if the method of song were an inherited 

 factor, would partake by prepotency of more of 

 the quality of the song of one parent than of the 

 other. Namely, given a canary and a goldfinch 

 crossed some of these resulting offspring should 

 inherit the characteristic song of the canary, while 

 others ought, on the theory laid down, to sing like 

 goldfinches ; and this is applicable to the other 

 crosses enumerated. At any rate, if a number of 

 different broods were taken into consideration, 

 it would appear that the matter of prepotency 

 should produce at least some birds that would 

 inherit the canary song. 



Hybrids, as a matter of fact, appear to have 

 the secondary sexual characteristic of song con- 

 fined almost exclusively to the males ; and so 

 far as personal experience goes, I have yet to 

 hear a male hybrid of the goldfinch and canary, 

 the siskin and canary, or the linnet and canary, 

 sing with any of the attributes of canaries ; nor, 

 so far as I am aware, do they possess the absolute 

 song-method of the male parents, though their 

 song greatly resembles it. I may say in conclu- 

 sion that all the hybrids I have observed had 

 canaries for female parents. This seems to me to 

 indicate that the factors of propinquity and imita- 

 tion are fundamental in establishing the method of 

 song in at least this kind of young bird. Namely, 

 given a young bird with an inherent power of 



