OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS - SONGBIRDS

Male bullfinch and Canary

Many songbirds learn to sing by listening to adult birds of the same species. If separated from the adults, they develop unintelligible warbles rather than normal song patterns. But if taught the song of another species, a bird often can pass the foreign language on to its offspring. In one experiment, a male bullfinch raised by a female canary learned the canary's song to perfection. When it was later mated to a female bullfinch, its children and later its grandchildren could sing like a canary.