Impressions of the Voices of Tropical Birds 



343 



ihcn, Wren - like, drop 

 down into hiding. 



All the Phcugopedius 

 Wrens arc fj;ifted with the 

 most astonishingly loud 

 and clear whistles. A 

 wonderous Ihrushy quality 

 is theirs, with an un- 

 1)1-1 ievahle range in the 

 form and forte of their 

 songs. Both sexes sing, 

 usually, close together, 

 and when one is hushed 

 in the deep silence of the 

 fern-tilled forest of the 

 humid mountains, tense 

 for the tiniest pip of a 

 Manikin or the mouse- 

 like run of an Ant-thrush, 

 it is enough to raise one's 

 hair when, right in one's 

 ear, explodes a loud, as- 

 tonishingly clear "bloong- 

 wheee-rip-wheeoo," 

 rapidly repeated, fre- 

 quently seconded by a 

 less showy "We'll whip you yet" of the female. 



It would be hard to describe a tangible difference between the songs of 

 Pheugopedius and Henicorhina. Certainly there is no such difference in volume 

 or range as the tiny size of the latter would lead one to suppose. For the 

 diminutive wood Wrens are by no means always distinguishable by their songs 

 from their larger cousins, and the variety and timbre of the notes of one genus 

 is as endless as in the other. While no description or literal syllabification can 

 do much to bring up an "audital image" of a birdsong, my notes, written only 

 for my own recollection, have these cryptic bits as the framework upon which 

 I hook my remembrance of Henicorhina songs: "Y'ought to see Jim, Y'ought 

 to see Jim," "But Mary won't let you" (repeat four times), "Whip-w^heeoo, 

 correeoo." 



Perhaps no songs heard in the tropics are so characteristic, or make such a 

 strong impression on the mind and desire of a naturalist, as these romantic 

 and mysterious Wren songs. They assail the ear while riding along the moun- 

 tain trails, and are the unending goal of many a sweltering still-hunt through 

 the mosquitoful but otherwise Sabbath-still forest. For me, at least, a deep, 



WOOD WREN 



( Ucnicnrliina Iciuoslicla) 



