132 OUR FAVOURITE SONG BIRDS 



plumage. Perhaps the Dippers do not rank as 

 songsters of exceptional merit, yet their vocal 

 attainments are considerable, and in some species 

 at all events their music is almost perennial. 



The Wrens are a much more heterogeneous 

 group, comprising a large number of species, pre- 

 dominating in the New World, yet well represented 

 in various parts of Europe and Asia. They are birds 

 of small size and generally sober plumage. The 

 typical Wrens, of which our British species is a 

 familiar example, are songsters of considerable merit ; 

 but some of the American representatives of the 

 group are still more famous for their musical achieve- 

 ments. One of the most remarkable of these, 

 Cyphorhiniis cantans, is thus described by Bates : 

 " When its singular notes strike the ear for the first 

 time the impression cannot be resisted that they are 

 produced by a human voice ; some musical boy 

 must be gathering fruits In the thicket, and singing a 

 few notes to cheer himself. The tones become more 

 fluty and plaintive ; they are now those of a flageolet, 

 and, notwithstanding the utter impossibility of the 

 thing, one is for a moment convinced that some one 

 Is playing that Instrument." Bates goes on to say 

 that this wonderful little singer is the only Warbler 

 in the forest that arrests the attention of the natives, 

 who sometimes, whilst travelling along the shady 

 creeks in their canoes, rest their paddles as if struck 

 by the mysterious song. The song of the Brown 



