SIDE IvIGHTS ON BIRDS 



and it seems as if silence followed, and a space of 

 time is left before we can again take up the various 

 unobtrusive cadences around us. 



The dominant sense of sight forces impressions 

 upon us so insistently that it may well be, we lose 

 many of the fainter and less accentuated, but 

 not the less valuable, messages from the world 

 around us. The blind nature-lover, with ear 

 ever attuned to catch whispers from " the 

 mighty sum of things for ever speaking," may 

 learn secrets that we with open eyes may easily 

 miss. If we, with our careless observation, can 

 check off, one by one, the more distinct voices 

 of the birds, and can distinguish between the 

 wing-beats of the wood-pigeon, the partridge, 

 and the woodcock, how much more may he whose 

 ear is trained to listen to " the voice of the 

 silence " glean tidings from the murmuring of 

 the never resting life around. 



Birds' Voices at Night. 

 The nightingale is the true minstrel of the dark- 

 ness, but other birds, not content with singing 

 during the day, frequently break the silent gloom 

 of the woods and fields by an outburst of song. 

 The sedge-warbler and the cuckoo are the most 

 persistent of these, but many instances have been 

 given of both the thrush and blackbird singing at 

 midnight. If the corncrake's reiterated cry 

 can be called a song, it also must be included with 

 the night singers. The cries uttered by birds at 

 night are often baffling and difficult to locate. 

 The curious burr-rr-ing or whirring sound 

 made by the nightjar, for example, has a most 

 deceptive quality. At one moment one hears 

 it from the left, then from the right : now it is in 

 front and now behind, so that one seems to be 

 surrounded by voices long before a glimpse of 



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