We Shall Close This Division Of Our Work With A Curious Account Of The Song Of Birds

We introduce the subject by the following poetical quotations; which, we have no doubt, will interest every admirer of nature, and nature's

God.

-------------------------------------Every copse

Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush

Bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads

Of the coy choristers that lodge within,

Are prodigal of harmony. Thomson

Each bird, Or high in air, or secret in the shade, Rejoicing, warbles wild his grateful hymn. Mallet

From branch to branch the smaller birds with song

Solace the woods, and spread their minted wings

Till even; nor then the solemn nightingale

Ceases to warble: in shadiest covert hid,

She all the night tunes her soft lays. Milton.

Again: ------------------The sweet poet of the vernal groves

Melts all the night in strains of am'rous woe. Armstrong

Again: ------------When the spring renews the flow'ry field,

And warns the pregnant nightingale to build,

She seeks the safest shelter of the wood,

Where she may trust her little tuneful brood.

Fond of the chosen place, she views it o'er,

Sits there, and wanders through the grove no more:

Warbling, she charms it each returning night; - Rowe.

And gives the pensive mind a calm delight.

The lark, that shuns on lofty boughs to build

Her humble nest, sits silent in the field;

But if the promise of a cloudless day,

(Aurora smiling,) bids her rise and play,

Then straight she shows 'twas not for want of voice,

Or pow'r to climb, she made so low a choice ;

Singing she mounts, her airy wings are stretch'd

Tow'rds heaven, as if from heav'n her note she fetch'd. Waller.

----------------------------Birds of sweetest song

Attune from native boughs their various lay,

And cheer the forest; those of brighter plume

With busy pinion skim the glitt'ring wave,

Or tempt the sun, ambitious to display

Their several merit. Shenstone.

The Song of Birds is defined, by the Hon. Daines Barring-ton, to be a succession of three or more different notes, which are continued without interruption, during the same interval, with a musical bar of four crotchets, in an adagio movement, or whilst a pendulum swings four seconds. It is affirmed, that the notes of birds are no more innate than language in man, and that they depend upon imitation, as far as their organs will enable them to imitate the sounds which they have fre-quent opportunities of hearing: and their adhering so steadily, even in a wild state, to the same song, is owing to the nestling attending only to the instruction of the parent bird, whilst they disregard the notes of all others that may be singing around them. Birds in a wild state do not usually sing above ten weeks in the year; whereas birds that have plenty of food in a cage, sing the greatest part of the year: the fern-ale of no species of birds ever sings. This is a wise provision, because her song would discover her nest. In the same manner, we may account for her inferiority of plumage. The faculty of singing is confined to the cock birds; and accordingly Mr. Hunter, in dissecting birds of several species, found the muscles of the larynx to be stronger in the nightingale than in any other bird of the same size; and in all those instances where he dissected both cock and hen, the same muscles were stronger in the cock.

It is an observation as ancient as the time of Pliny, that a capon does not crow. Some ascribe the singing of the cock in the spring solely to the motive of pleasing his mate during incubation; others, who allow that it is partly for this end, believe it is partly owing to another cause, viz. the great abundance of plants and insects in spring, which are the proper food of singing birds at that time of the year, as well as seeds. Mr. Barrington remarks, that there is no instance of any singing bird which exceeds our blackbird in size; and this, he supposes, may arise from the difficulty of concealing itself, should it call the attention of its enemies, not only by its bulk, but by the proportionate loudness of its notes. He further observes, that some passages of the song in a few kinds of birds correspond with the intervals of our musical scale, of which the cuckoo is a striking and known instance ; but the greater part of their song cannot be reduced to a musical scale • partly because the rapidity is often so great, and it is also so uncertain when they may stop, that we cannot reduce the passages to form a musical bar in any time whatsoever; partly also, because the pitch of most birds is considerably higher than the most shrill notes of those instruments which have the greatest compass; and principally, because the intervals used by birds are commonly so minute, that we cannot judge of them from the more gross intervals into which we divide our musical octave. This writer apprehends, that all birds sing in the same key; and he found by a nightingale, as well as a robin which was educated under him, that the notes reducible to our intervals of the octave were always precisely the same. Most people, who have not attended to the notes of birds, suppose, that every species sing exactly the same notes and passages: but this is not true; though there is a general re semblance. Thus the London bird-catchers prefer the song of the Kentish goldfinches, and Essex chaffinches; and some of the nightingale fanciers prefer a Surrey bird to those of Middlesex.

Of all singing birds, the song of the nightingale has been most universally admired; and its superiority consists in the following particulars: its tone is much more mellow than that of any other bird, though, at the same time, by a proper exertion of its musical powers, it can be very brilliant. Another superiority is, its continuance of song without a pause, which is sometimes twenty seconds; and when respiration becomes necessary, it takes it with as much judgment as an opera singer. The skylark, in this particular, as well as in compass and variety, is only second to the nightingale. The nightingale also sings with judgment and taste. Mr. Bar-rington says, that his nightingale began softly, like the ancient orators, reserving its breath to swell certain notes, which thus had a most astonishing effect. He adds, that the notes of birds which are annually imported from Asia, Africa, and America, both singly and in concert, are not to be compared to those of European birds. He has also formed a table, to exhibit the comparative merits of the British singing birds ; wherein twenty being the point of perfection, he states the nightingale at nineteen; the woodlark and skylark at eighteen; the blackcap at fourteen; the titlark, linnet, goldfinch, and robin, at twelve; with some variations respecting mellowness, sprightliness, execution, etc. for which, with the proportional differences of other birds, we refer to his work.

We cannot resist the temptation to insert the following well-known

Invitation To The Feathered Race.

Written at Claverton, near Bath

Again the balmy zephyr blows,

Fresh verdure decks the grove ; Each bird with vernal rapture glows,

And tunes his notes to love.

Ye gentle warblers, hither fly,

And shun the noontide heat; My shrubs a cooling shade supply,

My groves a safe retreat.

Here freely hop from spray to spray,

Or weave the mossy nest, Here rove and sing the live-long day,

At night here sweetly rest.

Amidst this cool translucent rill,

That trickles down the glade, Here bathe your plumes, here drink your fill

And revel in the shade.

No schoolboy rude, to mischief prone

E'er shows his ruddy face, Or twangs his bow, or hurls a stone,

In this sequester'd place.

Hither the vocal thrush repairs,

Secure the linnet sings : The goldfinch dreads no slimy snares,

To clog her painted wings.

Sad Philomel! ah, quit thy haunt.

Yon distant woods among, And round my friendly grotto chaunt

Thy sweetly plaintive song".

Let not the harmless redbreast fear,

Domestic bird, to come And seek a sure asylum here,

With one that loves his home.

My trees for you, ye artless tribe,

Shall store of fruit preserve : O let me thus your friendship bribe!

Come, feed without reserve.

For you these cherries I protect,

To you these plums belong ; Sweet is the fruit that you have pick'd,

But sweeter far your song.

Let then this league betwixt us made,

Our mutual int'rest guard ; Mine be the gift of fruit and shade

Your songs be my reward. Grem