SONG 893 



attempt to rear a family is made. It would seem as though a mild 

 temperature, and the abundance of food by which it is generally 

 accompanied, prompt the physiological alteration that inspires 

 the males of most birds to indulge in the Song peculiar to them. 

 Thus after the accomplishment of the annual MOULT, the most 

 critical epoch in the life of any bird, cock Thrushes, Skylarks 

 and others begin to sing, not indeed wdth the jubilant voice of 

 spring, but in an uncertain cadence which is quickly silenced by 

 the supervention of cold weather.^ Yet some birds we have which, 

 except during the season of moult, hard frost and time of snow, 

 sing almost all the year round. Of these the Kedbreast and the 

 Wren are familiar examples, and the Chiff-Chaff repeats its two- 

 noted cry, almost to weariness, during the whole period of its 

 residence in this country.^ 



Akin to the " Song " of Birds, and undoubtedly proceeding from 

 the same cause, are the peculiar gestures Avhich the males of many 

 perform under the influence of the approaching season of pairing, 

 but these again are far too numerous here to describe with particu- 

 larity. It must suffice to mention a few cases. The RuFF on his 

 hillock in a marsh holds a war-dance. The Snipe and some of his 

 allies mount aloft and wildly execute unlocked - for evolutions 

 almost in the clouds. The WOODCOCK and many of the Nightjars 

 beat evening after evening the same aerial path with its sudden and 

 sharp turnings. The Ring-DovE rises above the neighbouring trees 

 and then with motionless wings slides down to the leafy retreat 

 they afford. The Capercally and Blackcock, perched on a 

 commanding eminence, throw themselves into postures that defy 

 the skill of the caricaturist ^ — other species of the Grouse-tribe 

 assume the strangest attitudes and run in circles till the turf is 

 worn bare. The Peacock in pride spreads his train so as to shew 

 how nearly akin are the majestic and the ridiculous. The BoWER- 

 BIRD, not content with his own splendour, builds an arcade, decked 

 with bright feathers and shining shells, or arranges a trim garden 

 with moss and newly-plucked flowers, through and around which 

 he paces with his gay companions. The Larks and Pipits never 

 deliver their song so well as when seeking the upper air. RoOKS 

 rise one after the other to a great height and, turning on their 



^ Jenyns {Obser. Nat. Hist. pp. 86-102) has some good notes on the singing of 

 Birds, and particularly as to the time of its beginning in the morning. 



^ A enrious question, which has as yet attracted but little attention, is . 

 whether the notes of the same species of Bird are in all countries alike. From my Cj- f(fV^y- 

 own observation I am inclined to think that they are not, and that there exist •' 

 " dialects," so to sjjeak, of the song. {fif. Gloger, Jour, fur Orn. 1859, p. 398 ; 

 Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zo'61. Harvard, ii. pp. 166, 167.) 



2 The singular fact that during the paroxj'sms that attend this performance of 

 the Capercally the bird becomes deaf has long been known to foresters, but it 

 has been only of late explained {cf. Ear, p. 178). 



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