THE SONG OP BIRDS. 239 



To every car, and thence to every heart, 

 Till all confess the power of music's charm, 

 And the fair songstress, first of all the choir, 

 That carol forth their lays from morn till night." 



Then there is the Blackcap, that charming singer, called also the English 

 Mocking-bird, although I have always thought that his native powers, 

 bearing as they do a great resemblance to the notes of other birds, are, 

 ab initio, his own. The Thrush is another superior songster, and it is 

 difficult to say that any but the Nightingale can be placed before him, 

 his notes are so extremely varied and powerful, although necessarily often 

 repeated; but there are those who prefer the Blackbird, and I own as 

 to tone I am of the number, fully awarding, as I do, the second place to 

 the sweet Mavis. Then comes the Redbreast, which "conies out" so sweetly 

 in sunny December days; the Wren, that noisy little thing, who almost 

 rivals the Canary in power; the Redstart and Whitethroat, those delicate 

 songsters; and the rest of the Insect ivori, all, more or less, real songsters, 

 especially the little Willow Wrens; even the fairy- like golden- crowned 

 Wren adds his sweet minute voice to the general chorus. Then the Finches 

 are all singers, and very prettily some of them sing; the Chaffinch is par- 

 ticularly well known, as he has a powerful round-toned voice; but the 

 Goldfinch much surpasses h'm in sweetness and variety, but is comparatively 

 insignificant and unheard for want of power, and these with the Bullfinch 

 are really all pretty birds as well. Then that pretty little bird the Reed 

 Wren, Gilbert White's Salicaria, (how the idea reminds me of Selborne;) 

 how sweetly she awakes the echoes of night with her hurrying and varied 

 song, which is a very sweet polyglot. She and the Nightingale are charming 

 soothers of the summer midnight; and many a time have I enjoyed a 

 half- hour when waiting for a late up-train in the neighbourhood of London, 

 under the soft light of a bright moon, and drinking in with silent satisfaction 

 the song of both these pretty creatures. The Cuckoo too, although he 

 only utters two notes, is still entitled, from his strength of voice and its 

 pretty combination and true melody, to a foremost place amongst singing 

 birds; even the little Hedge Sparrow is very pleasing in the solitude of 

 the wood. 



Very few foreign birds are good songsters; America, I believe, boasts the 

 best in its "mocking" Thrush, for although the Parrot is very capable of 

 producing almost any nofe of music, it is in the way of imitation, and not 

 his own natural song. There are a great proportion of the finch tribe, of 

 the foreign kinds, which have one loud whistling note; of this the Virginian 

 Nightingale is a familiar example. 



Whether we call the note of the Domestic Fowl singing I am dubious, 

 although their tones are very varied in expression. These are also foreign 



