Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/242

218 As neither I nor any of my friends have ever heard it at that time, I wrote to Dr. Häcker for further information; but my letter never reached him, and was returned to me. White may probably have been mistaken; his statements in these two letters seem to have been the result of only a single year's observation. Mr. Witchell quotes White in his 'Evolution of Bird- Song,' p. 65, adding that he had probably heard the young birds sing; and recently explained, in a letter to the 'Yorkshire Weekly Post,' that he has often himself heard young Blackbirds pipe in autumn, but has never heard the full song at that season.

In winter the Blackbird is an occasional, but only an occasional singer. I have never heard him myself between July and January, and rarely before the middle of February; and Mr. T. Phipps, an observer upon whom I can fully rely, and who was postman in this district for fifty years, assures me that his experience has been the same. Mr. Aplin, however, sends me word that he has heard it this winter on December 7th, 12th, and 22nd, singing in a low tone, but adds that he considers it most unusual for a Blackbird to sing in autumn, or before its usual time. Its song is, no doubt, often confused by casual observers with the notes of the Mistle-Thrush, Starling, or even the Song-Thrush. When it is heard earlier than January, the song is probably to be connected with the breeding instinct, rather than explained as mere "voice-play."