SummaryMale Chaffinches share no more songs with territorial neighbours than would be expected by chance, suggesting that some song learning occurs before young birds set up their territories. Hand‐reared birds are capable of learning song both in their first spring and in the previous summer one young bird produced a good copy of a song which he had only heard as a nestling and fledgling eight months previously. While song learning involves accurate copying of individual elements, the variation in number in elements in a phrase and the temporal pattern of singing shown by hand‐reared birds were similar to that of wild birds rather than being influenced by the tutor ta