116 PHILLIDA AND CORIDON. 



particular female may have given out that she 

 had no ear for music. 



In point of fact, however, there was nothing 

 peculiar in their conduct. No doubt, in the 

 earlier stages of a bird's attachment he is likely 

 to express his passion musically ; but later he 

 is not content to warble from a tree-top. There 

 are things to be said which cannot appropri- 

 ately be spoken at long range ; and unless my 

 study of novels has been to little purpose, all 

 this agrees well with the practices of human 

 gallants. Do not these begin by singing under 

 the lady's window, or by sending verses to her? 

 and are not such proceedings intended to pre- 

 pare the way, as speedily as possible, for others 

 of a more satisfying, though it may be of a less 

 romantic nature? 



Bearing this in mind, we may be able to ac- 

 count, in part at least, for the inexperienced 

 observer's disappointment when, fresh from the 

 perusal of (for example) the thirteenth chapter 

 of Darwin's '' Descent of Man," he goes into 

 the woods to look about for himself. He ex- 

 pects to find here and there two or three song- 

 sters, each in turn doing his utmost to surpass 

 the brilliancy and power of the other's music; 

 while a feminine auditor sits in full view, pre- 

 paring to render her verdict, and reward the 

 successful competitor with her own precious 



