When Do Birds Sing ?
Some of the critics have been expressing their distress at a statement, made by a bird lover, that the blackbird sings in winter. Now all of us must at one time or another have won- dered why the thrush, which is of the closest kin to the black- inanddainte obfirndes, atnindg,resaneind inbleasrchiit intecmtuorsalt ways—in in appearance, distributionpI)eira ne
movement—should sing at almost any date while the blackbird habitually is a late beginner, and rarely if ever joins the thrush in its late autumn or very early spring singing. Of this distinction between these two thrushes, to speak generically, there can be no doubt. Nevertheless, the blackbird is not always silent in winter. As a writer in Countryside truly insists, the blackbird has a whisper, which is a sort of song, that he may indulge at any date. There are, of course, more of such sotto voce songs than the critics allow. In- this sense singing is not restricted to the cocks. The hen bullfinch, to give one example, has a delightful burble ; and so has the hen swallow ; but you must be very near the bird to hear it.
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