Cfl AP. XIII. 
VOCAL MUSIC. 
53 
subject . 29 Barrington, however, admits that “ supe- 
s< ri0I % in song gives to birds an amazing ascendancy 
°y er others, as is well known to bird-catchers.” 
I is certain that there is an intense degree of rivalry 
e tween the males in their singing. Bird-fanciers 
l Uatf 'b their birds to see which will sing longest ; and 
' v as told by Mr. Yarrell that a first-rate bird will 
betimes sing till he drops down almost dead, or, 
Wording to Beclistein , 30 quite dead from rupturing a 
v essel in the lungs. Whatever the cause may be, 
? ale birds, as I hear from Mr. Weir, often die sud- 
, 6Q ly during the season of song. That the habit of 
^Bging i s sometimes quite independent of love is clear, 
as 
a sterile hybrid canary-bird has been described 3 
singing whilst viewing itself in a mirror, and then 
f ling at its own image; it likewise attacked with 
' ir y a female canary when put into the same cage, 
jealousy excited by the act of singing is constantly 
advantage of by bird-catchers ; a male, in good 
0ll & is hidden and protected, whilst a stuffed bird, sur- 
Gu nded by limed twigs, is exposed to view. In this 
fanner a man, as Mr. Weir informs me, has caught, in 
course of a single day, fifty, and in one instance 
to Ve j%! male chaffinches. The power and inclination 
, Sl ng differ so greatly with birds that although the 
^ ee °f an ordinary male chaffinch is only sixpence, 
tin" ^ e * r 8aw oue bird for which the bird-catcher asked 
Pounds; the test of a really good singer being 
ro continue to sing whilst the cage is swung 
ibe owner’s head. 
la t birds should sing from emulation as well as for 
tory 'fbiiosophical Transactions,’ 1773, p. 263. White’s • Natural His- 
3o /^Ihorne,’ vol. i. 1825, p. 246. 
si >T a j ur ges. der Stubenvogel,’ 1S40, s. 252. 
r> Bol <b ‘ Zoologist,’ 1843-44, p. 659. 
