775 
ORNITHOLOGY. 
babble. This firft eflay does not Teem to have the lead 
rudiments of the future fong; but, as the bird grows 
older and ftronger, one may begin to perceive what the 
nettling is aiming at. While the fcholar is thus endea¬ 
vouring to form his fong, when he is once fure of a paflage, 
he commonly raifes his tone, which he drops again when 
he is not equal to what he is attempting; juft as a linger 
raifes his voice, when he not only recollefls certain parts 
of a tune with precifion, but knows that he can execute 
them. What the nettling is not thus thoroughly matter 
of, he hurries over, lowering his tone, as if he did not 
with to be heard, and could not yet fatisfy himfelf. A 
young bird commonly continues to record for ten or 
eleven months; then he is able to execute every part of 
his fong, which afterwards continues fixed, and is fcarcely 
ever altered. When the bird is thus become perfect in 
his lelTon, he is faid to “ fing his fong round,” or in all 
its varieties of palfages, which he connedls together, and 
executes without a paufe. 
Notes in birds are no more innate than language is in 
man, and depend entirely on the mailer under which 
they are bred, as far as their organs will enable them to 
imitate the founds which they have frequent opportu¬ 
nities of hearing. The Hon. Mr. Dailies Barrington 
educated neftling-linnets under the three bed linging- 
larks, the Ikylark, woodlark, and titlark; everyone of 
which, inftead of the linnet’s fong, adhered entirely to 
that of their refpedlive inftrudtors. When the note of 
the titlark-linnet was thoroughly fixed, he hung the bird 
in a room with two common linnets, for a quarter of a 
year, which were full in fong; the titlark-linnet, how¬ 
ever, did not borrow any palfages from the linnet’s fong, 
but adhered ftedfaftly to that of the titlark. Having fome 
curiofity to find out whether an European neltling would 
equally learn the note of an African bird, he educated a 
young linnet under a vengolina, which imitated its Afri¬ 
can mailer fo exablly, without any mixture of the lin- 
net-fong, that it was impoflible to diltinguilh the one 
from the other. 
Tliefe fails feem to prove very decifively, that birds 
have not any innate ideas of the notes which are fuppofed 
to be peculiar to each fpecies. But'it will pofilbly be 
alked, why, in a wild Hate, they adhere fo Iteadily to the 
fame fong, infomuch that it is well known, before the 
bird is heard, what notes you are to expedl from him. 
This however arifes entirely from the neftling’s attending 
only to the inftruflion of the parent-bird, while it difre- 
gards the notes of all others which may perhaps be fing¬ 
ing round him. Bvit, to prove this decifively, Mr. B. 
took a common fparrow from the neft when it was fledged, 
and educated him under a linnet: the bird however by 
accident heard a goldfinch alfo, and his fong was therefore 
a mixture of the linnet and goldfinch. Mr. B. educated 
a young robin undera very fine nightingale; which, how¬ 
ever, began already to be out of fong, and was perfectly 
mute in lefs than a fortnight. This robin afterwards 
fung three parts in four nightingale, and the reft of his 
fong was what the bird-catchers call rubhijh, or no parti¬ 
cular note whatever. He educated a neltling-robin under 
a woodlark-linnet which was full in fong, and hung very 
near to him for a month together; after which, the robin 
was removed to another houfe, where he could only hear 
a Ikylark-linnet. The confequence was, that the neftling 
did not ling a note of woodlark, though he afterwards 
hung him again juft above the woodlark-linnet, but ad¬ 
hered entirely to the fong of the Ikylark-linnet. 
Birds in a wild Hate do not commonly ling above ten 
weeks in the year ; whereas birds, that have plenty of 
food in a cage, fing the greateft part of the year; and we 
may add, that the female of no fpecies of bird ever fings •. 
and this is a wife provilion of nature, becaufe her fong 
would dilcover her neft; and in the fame manner we 
may rationally account for her inferiority in refpebl to 
plumage. The faculty of finging is confined to the cock- 
birds; and accordingly Mr. Hunter, in dilfedling birds 
of feveral fpecies, found the mufdes of the larynx to be 
ftronger in the nightingale than in any other bird of the 
famelize; and, in all thofe inltances where he diflefled 
both cock and hen, the lame mufcles were ftronger in the 
cock. To the fame purpofe, it is an obfervation as an¬ 
cient as the time of Pliny, that a capon does not crow. 
Some have afcribed the finging of the cock-bird in the 
fpring to the motive only of pleafing his mate during in¬ 
cubation. Nature, indeed, partly for this end, has given 
to the male the power of finging; but the finging of a 
bird in the fpring is more probably owing to the greater 
plenty of plants and infedls, which, as well as feeds, are 
the proper food of finging-birds at that time of the year. 
It is alfo to be recolleded that much the greater part of 
birds do not fing at all: why fhould their mates therefore 
be deprived of this folace and amufement? The bird in 
a cage, which perhaps fings nine or ten months in a year, 
cannot do lb from this inducement. On the contrary, it 
arifes chiefly from contending with another bird, or in¬ 
deed againft almoft any fort of continued noife. Supe¬ 
riority in fong gives to birds a moll amazing afcendency 
over each other; as is well known to the bird-catchers 
by the fafcinating power of their call-birds, which they 
contrive fhould moult prematurely for this purpofe. But, 
to Ihow decifively that the finging of a bird in the fpring 
does not arife from attention to its mate, a very ex¬ 
perienced catcher of nightingales informed Mr. B. that 
fome of thefe birds have jerked the inllant they were caught. 
He had alfo brought to him a nightingale which had been 
but a few hours a cage, and which burll forth in a roar of 
fong: yet this bird was fo fulky on his firlt confinement, 
that he mull be crammed for feven or eight days, as he 
would otherwife not feed himfelf: it was alfo neceflary to 
tie his wings, to prevent his killing himfelf againft the 
top or fides of the cage. 
Mr. B. believes there is no inftance of any bird’s fing¬ 
ing which exceeds our blackbird in fize; and poflibly this 
may arife from the difficulty of its concealing itfelf, if it 
called the attention of its enemies, not only by bulk, but 
by the proportionable loudnefs of its notes. This writer 
farther obferves, that fome palfages of the fong, in a few 
kinds of birds, correfpond with the intervals of our mu- 
fical fcale, of which the cuckoo is a linking and known 
inftance; but much the greater part of Tuch fong is not 
capable of mufical notation; partly becaufe the rapidity 
is often fo great, and it is alfo fo uncertain when they 
may Hop, that we cannot reduce the palfages to form a 
mufical bar in any time whatloever; partly alfo, becaufe 
the pitch of moll birds is confiderably higher than the 
moll Ihrill notes of thofe inftruments which comprehend 
even the greateft compafs; and principally, becaufe the 
intervals ufed by birds are commonly fo minute, that we 
cannot judge at all of them from the more grofs intervals 
into which we divide our mufical oblave. This writer 
apprehends, that all birds fing in the lame key; and, in 
order to dilcover this key, he informs us, that the follow¬ 
ing notes have been obferved in different birds; A, B flat, 
C, D, F, and G; and, therefore, E only is wanting to 
complete the fcale ; now thefe intervals, he fays, can only 
be found in the key of F with a i’narp third, or that of G 
with a flat third ; and he fuppofes it to be the latter, be¬ 
caufe, admitting that the firft mufical notes were learned 
from birds, thofe of the cuckoo, which have been moll 
attended to, form a flat third.; and mod compofitions, 
where the mulic is Ample, and confifts merely of melody, 
are in a flat third. As a farther evidence that birds fing 
always in the fame key, it has been found, by attending to 
a nightingale, as well as a robin which was educated un¬ 
der him, that the notes reducible to our intervals of the 
oflave were always precifely the fame. 
t Moil people, who have nor attended to the notes of 
birds, fuppofe, that thofe of every fpecies fing exablly the 
fame notes and palfages, which is by no means true, 
though it is admitted that there is a general refemblance. 
Thus the London bird-catchers prefer the fong of the 
Kentifli 
