under which it was intended to train others: and we also heard of five pounds ten fhillings being given for a call-bird linnet. A third fingular circumftance, which confirms an obfervation of Linnæus, is, that the male chaffinches fly by themselves, and in the flight precede the females; but this is not peculiar to the chaffinches. When the titlarks are caught in the beginning of the feafon, it frequently happens, that forty are taken, and not one female among them; and probably the fame would be obferved with regard to other birds (as has been done with relation to the wheat-ear) if they were attended to. An experienced and intelligent birdcatcher informed us, that fuch birds as breed twice a year, generally have in their first brood a majority of males, and in their fecond, of females, which may in part account for the above obfervation. We must not omit mention of the bullfinch, though it does not properly come under the title of a finging-bird, or a bird of flight, as it does not often move farther than from hedge to hedge; yet, as the bird fells well on account of its learning to whittle tunes, and fometimes flies over the fields where the nets are laid; the birdcatchers have often a call-bird to enfare it, though most of them can imitate the call with their mouths. It is remarkable with regard to this bird, that the female answers the purpose of a call-bird as well as the male, which is not experienced in any other bird taken by the London bird catchers. It may perhaps furprife, that under this article of finging birds, we have not mentioned the nightingale, which is not a bird of flight, in the fenfe the bird-catchers ufe this term. The nightingale, like the robin, wren, and many other finging birds, only moves from hedge to hedge, and does not take the periodical flights in October and March. The perfons who catch thefe birds, make use of fmall trap-nets, without call-birds, and are confidered as inferior in dignity to other bird-catchers, who will not rank with them. The nightingale being the first of finging-birds, we fhall here infert a few particulars relating to it. Its arrival is expected by the trappers in the neighbourhood of London, the firft week in April; at the beginning none but cocks are taken, but in a few days the hens make their appearance, generally by them felves, though fometimes a few males come along with them. The latter are diftinguished from the females not only by their fuperior fize, but by a great fwelling of their vent, which commences on the first arrival of the hens. They do not build till the middle of May, and generally chufe a quickset to make their neft in. If the nightingale is kept in a cage, it often begins to fing about the latter end of November, and continues to fing more or lefs till June. A young canary bird, linnet, fkylark, or robin (who have never heard any other bird) are faid beft to learn the note of a nightingale. They are caught in a net-trap; the bottom of which is furrounded with an iron ring; the net itself is rather larger than a cabbage-net. When the trappers hear or fee them, they ftrew fome fresh mould under the place, and bait the trap with a meal-worm from the baker's fhop. Ten or a dozen nightingales have been thus caught in a day. Barrington. 21. Experiments and Obfervations on the SINGING of BIRDS. From the Philofophical Tranfactions, Vol. Ixiii. As the experiments and obfervations I late to the finging of birds, which is a fubmean to lay before the Royal Society reject that hath never before been fcientifically treated of, it may not be improper to prefix an explanation of fome uncommon terms, which I fhall be obliged to use, as well as others which I have been under a neceffity of coining. To chirp is the first found which a young bird utters, as a cry for food, and is tended to; fo that the hearer may diftindifferent in all neftlings, if accurately atguifh of what fpecies the birds are, though the neft may hang out of his fight and reach. This cry is, as might be expected, very weak and querulous; it is dropped entirely as the bird grows ftronger, nor is afterwards intermixed with its fong, the chirp of a nightingale (for example) being hoarfe and difagreeable. To this definition of the chirp, I must add, that it confits of a fingle found, repeated at very fhort intervals, and that it is common to nestlings of both fexes. The call of a bird, is that found which it is able to make when about a month old; it is, in most inftances (which I happen to recollect) a repetition of one and the fame note, is retained by the bird as long as it lives, and is common, generally, to both the cock and hen The next stage in the notes of a bird is termed, by the bird-catchers, recording, which word is probably derived from a mufical inftrument, formerly used in England, called a recorder †. This attempt in the neftling to fing, may be compared to the imperfect endeavour in a child to babble. I have known inftances of birds beginning to record when they were not a month old. This firft eflay does not feem to have the leaft rudiments of the future fong; but as the bird grows older and stronger, one may begin to perceive what the nettling is aiming at. Whilft the fcholar is thus endeavouring to form his fong, when he is once fure of a paffage, he commonly raifes his tone, which he drops again, when he is not equal to what he is attempting; just as a finger raifes his voice, when he not only recollects certain parts of a tune with precifion, but knows that he can execute them. What the neftling is not thus thoroughly master of, he hurries over, lowering his tone, as if he did not wish to be heard, and could not yet fatisfy himself. I have never happened to meet with a paffage, in any writer, which feems to re *For want of terms to diftinguish the notes of hirds, Belon applies the verb chantent, or fing, to the goofe and crane, as well as the nightingale. Plufieurs oifeaux chantent la nuit, comme eft l'oye, la grue, & le roffignol." Belon's Hift. of Birds, p. 50. It feems to have been a fpecies of flute, and was probably used to teach young birds to pipe tunes. Lord Bacon defcribes this inftrument to have been ftrait, to have had a leffer and greater bore, both above and below, to have required very little breath from the blower, and to have had what he calls a fipple, or stopper. See his fecond Century of Experiments. late to this ftage of finging in a bird, except, perhaps, in the following lines of Statius: "Nunc volucrum novi "Queftus, inexpertumque carmen, "Quod tacitâ itatuere brumâ," Stat. Sylv. L. IV. Ecl. 5. A young bird commonly continues to record for ten or eleven months, when 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 leffon, he is faid to fing his fong round, or in all its varieties of paffages, which he connects together, and executes without a pause. I would therefore define a bird's fong to be a fucceffion of three or more different notes, which are continued without interruption during the fame interval with a mufical bar of four crotchets in an adagio movement, or whilst a pendulum fwings four feconds. By the first requifite in this definition, I mean to exclude the call of a cuckow, or clucking of a hen †, as they coufift of only two notes; whilft the fhort bursts of finging birds, contending with each other (called jerks by the bird-catchers) are equally dif tinguished from what I term fong, by their not continuing for four feconds. As the notes of a cuckow and hen, therefore, though they exceed what I have defined the call of a bird to be, do not amount to its fong, I will, for this reafon, take the liberty of terming fuch a fucceffion of two notes as we hear in these birds, the varied call. Having thus fettled the meaning of cer tain words, which I fhall be obliged to make ufe of, I fhall now proceed to ftate fome general principles with regard to the finging of birds, which feem to refult from the experiments I have been making for feveral years, and under a great variety of circumstances. Notes in birds are no more innate, than language is in man, and depend entirely upon the mafter under which they are bred, as far as their organs will enable them to imitate the founds which they have fre quent opportunities of hearing. The bird called a Twite by the bird-catchers, cummonly flies in company with linnets, yet the two fpecies of birds never learn each other's notes, which always continue totally different. The common hen, when the lays, repeats the fame note, very often, and concludes with the fixth above, which the holds for a longer time. Mot Most of the experiments I have made on this fubject have been tried with cock linnets, which were fledged and nearly able to leave their neft, on account not only of this bird's docility, and great powers of imitation, but because the cock is early diftinguished from the hen at that early period, by the fuperior whiteness in the wing .. In many other forts of finging birds the male is not at the age of three weeks fo certainly known from the female; and if the pupil turns out to be a hen, "ibi omnis "Effufus labor." The Greek poets made a fongfter of the , whatever animal that may be, and it is remarkable that they obferved the female was incapable of finging as well as hen birds: EIT BITIV OF TETTYEs un sudaqoves, I have indeed known an inftance or two of a hen's making out fomething like the fong of her fpecies; but thefe are as rare as the common hen's being heard to crow. I rather fufpect alfo, that thofe parrots, magpies, &c. which either do not speak at all, or very little, are hens of thofe kinds. I have educated neftling linnets under the three best finging larks, the fkylark, woodlark, and titlark, every one of which, inftead of the linnet's fong, adhered entirely to that of their respective inftructors. When the note of the titlark-linnet + was thoroughly fixed, I hung the bird in a room with two common linnets, for a quarter of a year, which were full in fong; the titlark-linnet, however, did not borrow any paffages from the linnet's fong, but adhered ftedfaftly to that of the titlark. I had fome curiofity to find out whether an European neftling would equally learn the note of an African bird: I therefore educated a young linnet under a vengo The white reaches almost to the shaft of the quill feathers, and in the hen does not exceed more than half of that space: it is alfo of a brighter hue. + I thus call a bird which fings notes he would not have learned in a wild ftate; thus by a fkylarklinnet, I mean a linnet with the fkylark fong: a nightingale robin, a robin with the nightingale fong, &c. lina, which imitated its African master fo exactly, without any mixture of the linnet fong, that it was impoffible to dif tinguish the one from the other. This vengolina-linnet was abfolutely perfect, without ever uttering a fingle note by which it could have been known to be a linnet. In fome of my other experiments, however, the nestling linnet retained the call of its own fpecies, or what the birdcatchers term the linnet's chuckle, from fome refemblance to that word when pronounced. I have before flated, that all my neftling linnets were three weeks old, when taken from the neft; and by that time they frequently learn their own call from the pa rent birds, which I have mentioned to confift of only a fingle note. To be certain, therefore, that a neftling will not have even the call of its fpecies, it should be taken from the nest when only a day or two old; becaufe, though neftlings cannot fee till the feventh day, yet they can hear from the inftant they are hatched, and probably, from that circumstance, attend to founds more than they do afterwards, efpecially as the call of the parents announces the arrival of their food. I must own, that I am not equal myself, nor can I procure any perfon to take the trouble of breeding up a bird of this age, as the odds against its being reared are almoft infinite. The warmth indeed of incubation may be, in fome measure supplied by cotton and fires; but thefe delicate animals require, in this state, being fed almost perpetually, whilft the nourishment they receive fhould not only be prepared with great attention, but given in very small portions at a time. Though I must admit, therefore, that I have never reared myself a bird of fo tender an age, yet I have happened to fee both a linnet and a goldfinch which were taken from their nefts when only two or three days old. The firft of thefe belonged to Mr. Matthews, an apothecary at Kensington, which, from a want of other founds to imitate, almoft articulated the words pretty boy, as well as fome other short fentences: I heard the bird myself repeat the words pretty boy; and Mr. Matthews affured me, that he had neither the note or call of any bird whatsoever. This talking linnet died last year, before which, many people went from London to hear him speak. The goldfinch I have before mentioned, was reared in the town of Knighton in Radnorshire, which I happened to hear as I was walking by the houfe where it was kept. I thought indeed that a wren was fing ing; and I went into the houfe to inquire after it, as that little bird feldom lives long in a cage. The people of the house, however, told me, that they had no bird but a goldfinch, which they conceived to fing its own natural note, as they called it; upon which I ftaid a confiderable time in the room, whilft its notes were merely thofe of a wren without the leaft mixture of goldfinch. On further inquiries, I found that the bird had been taken from the nett when only a day or two old, that it was hung in a window which was oppofite to a fall garden, whence the neilling had undoubt edly acquired the notes of the wren, without having had an opportunity of learning even the call of the goldfinch. Thefe facts, which I have flated, feem to prove very decifively, that birds have not any innate ideas of the notes which are fuppofed to be peculiar to each species. But it will poffibly be asked, why, in a wild ftate, they adhere fo fteadily to the fame fong, infomuch, that it is well known, before the bird is heard, what notes you are to expect from him. This, however, arifes entirely from the neitling's attending only to the inftruction of the parent bird, whilst it disregards the notes of all others, which may perhaps be finging round him. Young Canary birds are frequently reared in a room where there are many other forts; and yet I have been informed, that they only learn the fong of the parent cock. Every one knows, that the common houfe-fparrow, when in a wild state, never does any thing but chirp: this, however, does not arife from want of powers in this bird to imitate others; but because he only attends to the parental note. But, to prove this decifively, I 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. I have tried several experiments, in order to obferve, from what circumstances birds fix upon any particular note when taken from the parents; but cannot settle this with any fort of precifion, any more than at what period of their recording they determine upon the fong to which they will adhere. I educated a young robin under a very fine nightingale; which, however, began already to be out of fong, and was perfectly mute in less than a fortnight. This robin afterwards fung three parts in four nightingale; and the rest of his fong was what the bird-catchers call rubbish, or no particular note whatsoever. I hang this robin nearer to the nightingale than to any other bird; from which Art experiment I conceived, that the fcholar would imitate the mafter which was at the leaft diftance from him. From feveral other experiments, however, which I have fince tried, I find it to be very uncertain what notes the nestlings will moft attend to, and often their fong is a mixture; as in the inftance which I before itated of the fparrow. I must own alfo, that I conceived, from the experiment of educating the robin under a nightingale, that the fcholar would fix upon the note which it first heard when taken from the neft: I imagined likewife, that, if the nightingale had been fully in fong, the inftruction for a fortnight would have been fufficient. I have, however, fince tried the following experiment, which convinces me, fo much depends upon circumftances, and perhaps caprice in the fcholar, that no general inference, or rule, can be laid down with regard to either of these fuppofitions. I educated a nettling robin under a woodlark-linnet, which was full in song, and hung very near to him for a month together: after which, the robin was removed to another house, where he could only hear a skylark-linnet. The confequence was, that the nettling did not fing a note of woodlark (though I afterwards hung him again juft above the woodlarklinnet) but adhered entirely to the fong of the fkylark-linnet. Having thus ftated the result of several experiments, experiments, which were chiefly intended. to determine, whether birds had any innate ideas of the notes or fong, which is fuppofed to be peculiar to each fpecies, I fhall now make fome general obfervations on their finging though perhaps the fubject may appear to many a very minute one. Every poet, indeed, fpeaks with raptures of the harmony of the groves; yet thofe even, who have good musical ears, seem to pay little attention to it, but as a pleafing noife. I am also convinced (though it may feem rather paradoxical) that the inhabitants of London diftinguish more accurate. ly, and know more on this head, than of all the other parts of the island taken together. This feems to arife from two caufes. The first is, that we have not more mufical ideas which are innate, than we have of language; and therefore those even, who have the happiness to have organs which are capable of receiving a gratifica tion from this fixth fenfe (as it hath been called by fome) require, however, the beft inftruction. The orchestra of the opera, which is confined to the metropolis, hath diffused a good ftyle of playing over the other bands of the capital, which is, by degrees, communicated to the fidler and ballad-finger in the fireets; the organs in every church, as well as thofe of the Savoyards, contribute likewife to this improvement of mufical faculties in the Londoners. If the finging of the ploughman in the country is therefore compared with that of the London blackguard, the fuperiority is infinitely on the fide of the latter; and the fame may be obferved in comparing the voice of a country girl and London houfemaid, as it is very uncommon to hear the former fing tolerably in tune. I do not mean by this, to affert that the inhabitants of the country are not born with as good mufical organs; but only, that they have not the fame opportunities of learning from others, who play in tune themselves. The other reafon for the inhabitants of London judging better in relation to the fong of birds, arifes from their hearing each bird fing diftin&tly, either in their own or their neighbours fhops; as alfo from a bird continuing much longer in fong whilft in a cage, than when at liberty; the caufe of which I fhall endeavour hereafter to explain. They who live in the country, on the other hand, do not hear birds fing in their woods for above two months in the year, when the confufion of notes prevents their attending to the fong of any particular bird; nor does he continue long enough in a place, for the hearer to recollect his notes with accuracy. Befides this, birds in the fpring fing very loud indeed; but they only give fhort jerks, and scarcely ever the whole compafs of their fong. For thefe reafons, I have never happened to meet with any perfon, who had not refided in London, whofe judgment or opinion on this fubject I could the leaft rely upon; and a stronger proof of this cannot be given, than that most people, who keep Canary birds, do not know that they fing chiefly either the titlark, or nightingale notes Nothing, however, can be more marked than the note of a nightingale called its jug, which most of the Canary birds brought from the Tyrol commonly have, as well as feveral nightingale ftrokes, or particular paffages in the fong of that bird. I mention this fuperior knowledge in the inhabitants of the capital, because I am convinced, that, if others are confulted in relation to the finging of birds, they will only mislead, inftead of giving any material or useful information t. Birds in a wild ftate do not commonly * I once faw two of thefe birds which came from the Canary Inlands, neither of which had any fong at all; and I have been informed, that a fhip brought a great many of them not long fince, which fung as little Mot of thofe Canary birds, which are imported from the Tyrol, have been educated by parents, the progenitor of which was instructed by a nightingale; our English Canary birds have commonly more of the titlark note. The traffic in thefe birds makes a fmall article of commerce, as four Tyroleze generally bring over to England fixteen hundred every year; and though they carry them on their backs one thousand miles, as well as pay 201. duty for fuch a number, yet, upon the whole, it anfwers to fell thefe birds at 5 s. a piece. The chief place for breeding Canary birds is Infpruck and its environs, from whence they are fent to Conftantinople, as well as every part of Europe. + As it will not answer to catch birds with clap-nets any where but in the neighbourhood of London, most of the birds which may be heard in a country town are nestlings, and confequently cannot fing the fuppofed natural fong in any perfection. |