Doctorates and Fellowships

mith a view to ascertaining whether the song of birds is instinctive or imitative it may be well to recall that very similar experiments were made over a century ago.Wallace notes in his essays on ' Natural Selection, etc.,' that "The Hon.Daines Barrington was of the opinion that 'notes in birds are no more innate than language is in man, and depend entirely on the master under which they are bred, as far as their organs will enable them to imitate the sounds which they. have frequent opportunities of hearing."An account of his experiments is given in the Philosophical Transactions for 1773, Vol.LXII., and his results were practically the same as those obtained by Professor Scott, the young birds acquiring the song of their foster parents and not the notes of their own species.Barrington notes that the birds must be taken from tlle nest when very young, as they are apt pupils and learn the call notes of their parents at an early age.