BUBUN NATURAL BLI9T0BT SOCXETr. 103 



sedge-warbler warbles incessantly a rich medley ; on the low meadows, near the 

 river banks, vou will see the titlarks rising and falling, singing merrily ; the 

 whitethroat, in the hedges, keeps up its miserable wail, changed, if disturbed, 

 into a scolding note of alarm ; on the tops of the bushes the buntings are ring- 

 ing, ringing, revelling in the genial heat; while, in the pastures below, you will 

 see the chats rising and falling in the air, at one while pursuing their insect 



Erey, then uttering their short song on wing, or perched on the summits of the 

 ushes; while the wheat-ear may be seen now feeding on the ground, now rising 

 for a short distance, singing, and anon perched on some old bank or wall, perk- 

 ing his tail, and scolding you for disturbing his solitude ; in the woods above, 

 you hear the sprightly song of the chaffinch, or the blackbird's mellow strain, 

 Heating softly on the summer air ; in the tops of the trees you have the gentle 

 song of the lesser willow wren, or the harsh note of the green linnet; lower down 

 in the branches the chiffchaff ceases not chipchopping incessantly — there, too, 

 may you hear the soft low coo of the ringdove, and above your head the swallows 

 gliding along utter their low note of contentment. From the corn-field comes 

 now and again on your ear the monotonous creak of the rail or the plaintive 

 twit-twitter of the quail. From the corn the lark, springing as he rises higher 

 and higher, redoubles his song. On the bluff's above, the ring-ouzcl gives utter, 

 ance to his simple strain; and, high over all, the towering song of the thrush is 

 heard in all its surpassing melody. There is, or rather was, such a glen on the 

 Dodder, where you might, with few exceptions, hear all these songsters. There» 

 oft have I enjoyed this treat, when all things — the purling stream, the glorious 

 scenery, magically softened by the glimmering haze — the calmness, the sweet 

 songs, the solitude, might almost make you fancy that you were in fairy land, or 

 the far-famed Elysium of the ancients. The abundance or scarcity of food may 

 be reckoned as another influence, though my notes would lead me to believe it a 

 yery minor one ; otherwise, one would suppose a soft, open winter more suited for 

 developing song than a harsh one ; and we often find this not to be the case. To 

 quote one instance : the winter of 1851 was much milder than that of either 1850 

 or 1852 — so much so, that many of the lower animals did not hybernate till very 

 late, and yet, the autumnal songsters, though beginning early, were much more 

 irregular in their songs than in either of the other years. 1 beg to submit to you 

 a diary of the birds in song during January, 1851, illustrative, in part, of the 

 above views. That the song of birds was the language of love, and, as such, 

 only to be heard during the pairing season, is an old theory, but not the less in- 

 correct for its age, as indeed the foregoing notes have amply shown ; for, out of 

 many species which we find singing after July, but three, or four at most, build 

 second nests. I believe myself that song is mainly, if not entirely, dependent on 

 a joyousness and lightness of spirit, whether produced from genial weather, 

 abundance of food, love, or any other cause ; and, in fact, that a bird sings un- 

 der the influence of the same natural impulse as causes the yelping of the gam- 

 bolling pup, or the whistle of the idling schoolboy. Witness birds in confine- 

 ment ; supply them with sufficiency of food, genial warmth, and light, and you 

 may have them singing at any period of the year, and day or night ; the thrush 

 singing as clearly and sweetly by the glare of the gas lamp as in the bright sun- 

 shine. These are the conclusions to which my notes, taken at every hour of the 

 day and night, tend ; and, imperfect though they be, I have ventured to lay them 

 before you, as, perhaps, serving to throw some little light on a subject still 

 shrouded in a great deal of mystery. 



