Why Do Birds Sing?
The song of the birds is a part of the love-making. The male bird is the “singer,” as we call them at home, when we think of the canary in the cage near us. The male bird sings to his mate to charm her and to further his wooing. This wooing goes on after the eggs have been laid in the nest and while the mother bird is keeping them warm until they hatch out, but almost instantaneously with the birth of the little birds, the song of the male bird is hushed. Take the case of the nightingale. For weeks during the period of nest-building and hatching he charms his mate and us with the beautiful music of his love song. But as soon as the little nightingales come from the eggs, the sounds which the male nightingale makes are changed to a gutteral croak, which are expressive of anxiety and alarm, in great contrast to the song notes of his wooing. And yet, if you were at this period—just after the birds are born, and when his song changes—to destroy the nest and contents, you would at once find Mr. Nightingale return to his beautiful song of love to inspire his mate to help him build another nest and start all over again to raise a family.