82 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



songster join in the chorus, and again the woods ' 

 ring with the united voices of thrushes, wrens, 

 sparrows, and warblers beyond count. 



It may be objected, at the very outset, that all 

 are not singing-birds, and the fact of such " non- 

 singing" birds disposes effectually of the theory. 

 " Whoever heard an owl sing?" is asked in deri- 

 sion. My good friend, do you call the shrill, caco- 

 phonous shouts of savages singing ? Yet we know 

 that to our Indians their weird cries and ceaseless 

 drumming are as melodious to them as " La Tra- 

 viata," "Eaust," or "II Trovatore" to yourself. 

 We are met with a mere assertion then, very pro- 

 bably, that there are birds with songs ; for with 

 every bird there is a very considerable range of 

 utterance, divisible into cries or expressions of 

 various kinds ; of course, of different meanings. 

 Some of the low, monotonous tones of brooding 

 birds are more probably uttered for their soothing 

 effect upon themselves, their mates, and young, 

 than for any other purpose. 



A bird can be rightly understood but by a bird, 

 and a naturalist must spend years in patient watch- 

 ing day after day, and. by his constant presence 

 become familiar to the birds, before he can witness 

 a tithe of many acts on their parts, which go to 

 prove them nearer to reasoning beings than man- 

 kind generally suppose. 



Our space does not admit of giving all the details 

 that we have jotted down during the past seven 

 months, or anything more than an occasional refe- 

 rence to our many notes made during fifteen years 

 of out-door work ; and we will now, therefore, give 

 an outline sketch, as it were, of what we believe to 

 be a true interpretation of the songs of birds. 



Including some twenty species of warblers {Sylvi- 

 colidce) more or less regular in their appearance, 

 year after year, there are fifty-four birds in Central 

 New Jersey, resident and migratory, that can be 

 considered strictly as singing -birds. These can, 

 with perfect propriety, be classed in accordance 

 with their peculiar temperaments, as Vivacious, 

 Sprightly, Dull; meaning to express thereby 

 three degress of animation in the songs of birds. 

 As an instance of the former, we mention the House- 

 wren {Troglodytes tcdoii) and Baltimore Oriole 

 {Icterus Baltimore) ; as examples of the second 

 class, the Song-sparrow {Melospiza mclodia) and the 

 Indigo-bird {Cyanospiza cyanea) ; as birds that are 

 dull, we give the Bluebird {Sialia stalls) and the 

 Pee-wee Flycatcher {Muscicapa Pliccbe). The va- 

 rious songs of the fifty odd singing-birds can be 

 readily placed under one of these three headings ; 

 and, curiously enough, the song in every case is 

 indicative of the character of the bird, or vice versa. 

 There is, therefore, a close connection between the 

 song and temperament ; in fact, it can be laid 

 down as a law that the latter decides the cha- 

 racter of the former ; which, we think, bears 



a good deal on the question of the origin of 

 the songs of birds ; for we cannot suppose that 

 some birds were created songsters and others 

 not ; but rather, from cries of alarm and quick 

 chirps expressive of satisfaction, sexual selection 

 has evolved the melodious notes of our most accom- 

 plished songsters, just as high civilization has pro- 

 duced in time the elaborate music we possess, or 

 are capable of, from the harsh, discordant attempts 

 at melody on the part of existing savages, and man- 

 kind's primeval, semi-human ancestry indulged in. 



Having briefly referred to the general character 

 of birds' songs, let us glance a moment at other 

 features of these songs, that go to separate them 

 from the other utterances of birds. Prominently 

 stands the fact that the song of a bird is uttered 

 solely for the pleasure of listening or [being'listened 

 to on the part of the songster, and bears no relation 

 whatever to any preceding or subsequent movement 

 of the bird ; and we therefore claim that the song 

 of a bird is an expression of melody that gives 

 pleasure to the bird itself and to other birds, which 

 is known to the singer ; so that he derives an addi- 

 tional pleasure from this consciousness ; or, in few 

 words, the reason that birds sing is precisely the 

 same as that which induces mankind to cultivate 

 music, which with man originally was exclusively 

 vocal. 



II. 



Let us turn now to the other class of utterances 

 of these same birds, and carefully note them down 

 in all their variations. We have in them material 

 for months of careful study, and would gladly give 

 all the data we have gathered concerning them. 

 Space forbids, and we can mention but the more 

 prominent features. We have, it may be mentioned 

 at the outset, a guide in the proper interpretation 

 of the various utterances of birds that are evidently 

 not songs in the fact that such single expressions, 

 such as chirps, trills, twitters, and shrill cries, are 

 always accompanied by movements, which are 

 closely related to the cries themselves. A bird, 

 when singing, except during early courtship, when 

 gymnastics are also indulged in, does not busy itself 

 with something else at the same time. If busy 

 feeding, it quits work, and taking up a position that 

 better suits it, the bird commences its song, and 

 repeats the same, until weaned with the repetition, 

 or called by its mate or "a sudden thought" to 

 something or some other place. When, however, 

 it is busy feeding, the low chirps and an occasional 

 twitter indicate, if alone, that it is talking to itself ; 

 or if with company, that it is talking to them ; for a 

 bird surrounded by others, or in company with its 

 mate, will chirp more loudly, and with a greater 

 variation of notes, than when alone. If disturbed, 

 how different a note is given ! Who can doubt the 

 meaning of a frightened bird's alarm-cry ? 



Again, let us closely observe two birds imme 



