THE AUTUMN SONG OF BIRDS.
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the call-note (and even of the distress-note) in its morning songs in August (and see "Bird-Songs in Summer," in 'Knowledge,' July, 1897), and that the Starling at the same period rarely utters its love-call in song ('Evolution of Bird-Song,' p. 53). The Robin's song is often employed before combat (op. cit. p. 38).
If an autumn singer makes much use of its call-note, we may infer that the song has an exotic origin, but when the call is not used (as in the Starling) it is difficult to see why we should not credit the singer with a sense of pleasure in his surroundings expressed in song; and this is the more reasonable since so many birds have a strong local attachment.
