INDIAN SONG-BIRDS 291 



I am ashamed to say that I had known the bird 

 for a long time before I became acquainted with its 

 song. One day, my work detained me late, so, instead 

 of going to club as usual, I took a stroll in the garden ; 

 my progress was soon arrested by an exceptionally fine 

 song, of considerable power and great compass : on 

 looking up, I discovered, to my great surprise, that the 

 vocalist was a common magpie robin which was sitting 

 on a bare branch. Since that day I have listened to its 

 voice so frequently that it is a mystery to me that 

 I had never heard it before. 



How is it possible to explain this want of knowledge 

 of the song of the common birds of India? Of course, 

 the human ear is a strange organ. It continually re- 

 ceives thousands of vibrations, capable of being per- 

 ceived as sound by the brain, which are never heard at 

 all, sounds which, so to speak, pass in at one ear and 

 out of the other. Soft sounds seem never to be per- 

 ceived unless the ear is consciously or unconsciously 

 listening for them. 



In the early morning and late afternoon, when most 

 of the Indian birds pour forth their song, the ear is 

 greeted by myriads of sounds, many sharp and powerful, 

 so that the soft musical ones, which do not grate upon 

 the auditory nerve, are apt to pass unnoticed. 



Then one walks so little in India. When driving, 

 the rumbling sound of the carriage wheels drowns, to 

 a great extent, the songs of the smaller birds ; under 

 such circumstances, these can be heard by listening for 

 them, and, in order to listen for a sound, one has to 

 know it. If we in India could only indulge in country 



