412 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The Nightingale, being so nearly related to the Robin, it is 

 rather curious that the young of this species do not sing; it 

 appears, however, that they do not. They must moult before 

 they leave us, for the young birds of this family wear the nestling 

 plumage for a very short time only. But I know next to nothing 

 about the Nightingale after it leaves off singing in June. I do not 

 even know when it quits the country. During the recent meeting 

 of the British Association at Oxford, Mr. Howard Saunders, 

 Mr. Warde Fowler, Mr. A. H. Macpherson, and I were walking 

 over Foxcombe Hill, on Aug. 12th, and saw a (young?) Nightingale 

 for a moment. Mr. Saunders identified it for us ; but that is the 

 only one I ever saw in that month, to my knowledge. The old 

 Nightingales are as chary as the Robins are lavish of their song ; 

 so perhaps we should not expect their young to make attempts at 

 singing in autumn, like the precocious young Robins. I should 

 like to know if the Nightingale is ever heard in autumn in its 

 winter quarters. 



Looking at the case of some birds, we might at first imagine 

 that those species which leave off singing early in the summer 

 sing again in autumn, while those which sing throughout the 

 summer do not have a distinct autumn song. But too many 

 exceptions occur for this to be laid down as a rule. For instance, 

 every autumn I hear the Chaffinch trying to sing; the song is 

 always very short, imperfect, and broken. I have heard it in 

 August (once, on the 16th), September, October, November, and 

 on one occasion in December (4th and 5th). The Chaffinch opens 

 song regularly, sometimes in the last days of January, but more 

 often in February. We should expect it to sing again in autumn, 

 because in summer it is rarely heard much after Midsummer- 

 day; but in the late season of 1888 I heard it up to July 19th. 



On the other hand, the Yellow Bunting, which sings regularly 

 on into August, does not have the autumn song, and is not 

 heard again until it opens for the spring in late January, 

 or more usually in February. The same may be said of the 

 Corn Bunting. There are exceptions, of course ; for instance, 

 in the fine autumn of 1884, I once heard a Yellow Bunting 

 singing on Oct. 28th. The Goldfinch may be heard in late 

 September and October, but the song is not full ; the Linnet 

 on sunny October days. The Greenfinch I have heard in the 

 latter half of August (once), and once on Dec. 1st. On a very 



