DO EEMAUE BIRDS vSING ? 165 
the while slyly sending out rootlets to steal from the neigh¬ 
bors. There is the saprophyte, too lazy to prepare its own 
food, and so compelled to eat what other plants have 
thrown away. There is the hemisaprophyte, sometimes, 
as in the present case, one of the most beautiful of flower¬ 
ing plants, for some strange reason also treading the down¬ 
ward road. There is the symbiot, forming partnerships 
with the lowest of the low, and turning pale with shame 
and degradation. The epiphyte, the only innocent one of 
the lot, cares only for a place to live, and neither gives nor 
takes. The carnivorous plant, the guiltiest of all, has 
trespassed npon the domain of the animal world, and preys 
upon it with relentless ferocity. 
Very queer doings, these, and provocative of' endless 
fancies ! But we have yet a great deal to learn about the 
intimate relations of the plant world with the animal 
world, and our knowledge must come, not from specula¬ 
tion but from observation. At present we are prejudiced 
against plants which behave, as we say, abnormally, and 
we call them degraded. Sometime we may find whether 
we are right or wrong. 
Do Female Birds Sing? 
Editor of k ‘Nature Study ’ ’ : 
The statement was made in a recent publication that the 
singing among birds was done by the males. I have reas¬ 
on to doubt this, and wonld like to know if the readers of 
Nature Study can throw any light on the subject. 
For two years, we have had in our possession a female 
rose-throated grosbeak, which sings and sings. Her song 
is very sweet, though soft, but with as many variations as 
that of the male bird. A friend of mine has a pair of these 
birds and her female bird pours forth similar melody. 
