HOW BIRDS LEARN TO SING.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 10760, 6 May 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

HOW BIRDS LEARN TO SING.

There is strong evidence tlwi ' kinds of birds learn to -siiijr liy ' irni imitation, :md just- lis string i-vimii? that others produce their chanieinT-!; 1 ' notes without any singing-master »l a" It would thus -ap_pcar that there ;ire!»" kinds of song-birds, one that rr<|OTrinstruction and another thai ]l! ''' pendent of it. Yellow-hannm i>. J'' 1 " nets, and orioles belong t<> the i " ri!l '' class; robins, thrushes, ami tihu-kinr;;-•to'the latter. O. V. I'mlnimi how, while walking in .Nortlnimieil.it.' ■ England, last August, he hail the P l '" sure of listening to the. .sinai^'-' 1 of a voting yellow-hammer. He •-■jJ-; "One'bird, the pupil, .witu slw weaker and less decided .** answering another .which «|»8 4 clearer and more finished was no mistaking the tact that '"V.jPj song came from tlie n'tore ■' songster, and it was hard to n»ist J* conviction that the other was an itui •' tion. It seemed, in fact, a ytttitig " learning to sing. . . 'I here hurry, and always a quite .percept * pause between the songs. J ' ien .-. . three times in succession the Ityc 1 gave the song without, the hnal n° ■ And the pupii duly replied with a »> r. one note short. Then tin- in.-" went back to the complete venwn, so long as I listened it was aiwu i by the incomplete song. . • . "August- is a specially favorable U"; for listenenig to the yellow-hai" 1 " song. . . And in listening " .. August songster J had "O'.'ii ' . there must be. two similar but (ii bird songs, and tried to >"a.ve which of the buntings tlie "llmt belong. The one song was . V r( .l and distinct, the other was slew ■' . quently omitting tlie f [' ~,^l But listening carcimly em 1 at I convinced myself tli-i the tniim • that of the old bird, . tlu : J'! that of the young one icarimiK ( £. j<'irst of all came the (jnit 1-t ' ' [ el r cided song, and then. ;,lt, .' r J „,- w i seconds, the slow,.hesitating, stopping-short imitation. | Mlli . given iti regular alternation 1<" • time. As i listened to 1 hem. , impossible to resist th <-i>hU< !" j u ,. it was a voting bird ;yitiviiih 1 : •;, ing-lesson. . • iV: i,,n;lll \,Va:a'l not met with any e; iuVik-:- l'• other species learn their way. . . . Voting ru.iin-. - ... thrushes, and blackbirds, w -/. u '' |, ;f ; heard making their early cii'ji always been singing al'M' 1 .. Some interesting expcriiiieii .>. .j in England by Harrington aie by Mr Bulinaii. He n ' :in 11 -. , '.'i. l hr ; ,j! nets under skylarks, wnoolai _,j titlarks, and found that tin :■ the song of the foster-parent i!l k.,|'tli'' 1 their own. Barrington con'■l"'. ■ the song of a bird is no iii"M than language is in man. - i !v Baltimore orioles were iea L trom their, parents in a .'at, '[J ~ „j a with tlie result tlnit they 111 ' j],,. song'of their own, < ' l ". t ' r ''" l .,-| !| , v(l proper song of the specie;-. i,. s rß of the oven bird, also, "PI""!'., in by imitating their parents " 1 r . „i the nest. The old biros snc • t | lt duet together, and. accardinu naturalist Hudson, ''the ,11when only partially llflgei ■ ■ :11 ,. stantly heard in the nest "■ t liß parently practising these 1 ~|,S i 'iit. intervals when the parents a To quote Mr Biilman lur'thj ' ,i,,n n' "The dircct-imitatiou bird-song is strengthened ; • |' M ,uh.' ; that 111 many birds the iniitj' d( , ! seems to be strong. ' ,ltl _r„ r i " !tl familiar cases of our own - ■ the American mocking-iiiro. |lii: ing examples of hnitation ( ) n uiie usually mimics I ma - v ,jrd'eroiv ltk occasion I heard a black y pa cock.. And I find cords the ..fact that it 1 t)£ .c;isio" .known to-do. so. On I heard a robin imitate tl . | iear( j ,1 Again, on one occasion o l .hai!ii ic '. l skylark twist the song of )(i( j v . I into its own more copi .. at this roil -* incline; however, to tin - tnt ioii- T liave -been luiconsciotis . c ucko 1, are birds, however, hw hy jnutawhicli apparently canno ~,,posed t< tion,' whose song must be • ' be innate."