218 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



As neither I nor any of my friends have ever heard it at that 

 time, I wrote to Dr. Hacker for further information ; but my 

 letter never reached him, and was returned to me. White may 

 probably have been mistaken ; his statements in these two letters 

 seem to have been the result of only a single year's observation. 

 Mr. Witchell quotes White in his 'Evolution of Bird- Song,' 

 p. 65, adding that he had probably heard the young birds sing; 

 and recently explained, in a letter to the 'Yorkshire Weekly Post,' 

 that he has often himself heard young Blackbirds pipe in autumn, 

 but has never heard the full song at that season. 



In winter the Blackbird is an occasional, but only an occa- 

 sional singer.* I have never heard him myself between July 

 and January, and rarely before the middle of February; and 

 Mr. T. Phipps, an observer upon whom I can fully rely, and who 

 was postman in this district for fifty years, assures me that his 

 experience has been the same. Mr. Aplin, however, sends me 

 word that he has heard it this winter on December 7th, 13th, 

 and 22nd, singing in a low tone, but adds that he considers it 

 most unusual for a Blackbird to sing in autumn, or before its 

 usual time. Its song is, no doubt, often confused by casual 

 observers with the notes of the Mistle-Thrush, Starling, or even 

 the Song-Thrush. When it is heard earlier than January, the 

 song is probably to be connected with the breeding instinct, 

 rather than explained as mere " voice-play." 



'■'■' I have collected a good deal of evidence on this subject, and on the 

 winter singing of other species ; but this paper has become quite long enough 

 already. 



