On the Singing of Birds. 287 



An attentive, and, at the same time, a musical, ear, by 

 repeated observations, may do much to confirm these observ- 

 ations. 



What, then, is the stimulating cause to sing ? Is it not 

 their having every requisite organ for song by their peculiar 

 construction, and their being excited by the seasons? Solomon, 

 in his inimitable song (Song of Solomon, ch. ii. v. 11. 12.), 

 tells us that " The winter is past ; the rain is over and gone ; 

 the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds 

 is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land" There- 

 fore, they know the appointed seasons for song; and the 

 exciting cause may be the return of day, the genial warmth 

 of spring, the peculiar delight of preparing for and super- 

 intending their callow brood ; and many others that might, 

 probably, be mentioned, were we better acquainted with the 

 precise meaning of their various intonations, which we deno- 

 minate song. 



Mr. Conway says, w The meadow pipit, when disturbed 

 from her nest, will mount up into the air to a considerable 

 height, and then descend slowly, warbling with all her powers, 

 until she reaches the ground." Admitting this to be a fact, 

 I ask, is that warble poured forth with the same joyful strains 

 as if she had mounted up into the air of her own accord ? I 

 doubt not, if we more carefully examine the tones of birds, 

 we shall find that they differ according to exciting circum- 

 stances. I happen to know a gentleman whose father had an 

 extensive aviary ; and, from his being a good musician, he 

 copied the notes of his various little songsters, who could 

 sing without either gamut, pitch-pipe, or metronome, and 

 transferred them to his violin ; by which means he was enabled 

 to comprehend much of the feelings of his joyous inmates, by 

 their various intonations of slow and graceful warblings, or of 

 quick and hurried movements, as if denoting displeasure. 

 Hence, I think, if we paid more attention to the song of birds 

 at particular seasons of the year, and under various exciting 

 causes, we should be enabled to discover that their tones, or 

 warblings, were in strict accordance with the impulse of the 

 moment, whether the excitement to sing was the genial warmth 

 of spring, the dawn of the morning, disturbance in the act of 

 incubation, or alarm on the approach of danger. As they 

 have no other language than that which issues from their 

 melodious throats in the form of song in which 



" To tell their tender tale, " 



it becomes observers, ere they come to positive conclusions on 



y 4 



