116 PHILLIDA ee CORIDON. 
particular female may have given out that she 
had no ear for music. 
In point of fact, however, there was nothing 
peculiar in their conduct. No doubt, in the 
earlier stages of a bird’s attachment he is likely 
to express his passion musically; but later he 
is not content to warble from a tree-top. There 
are things to be said which cannot appropri- 
ately be spoken at long range; and unless my 
study of novels has been to little purpose, all 
this agrees well with the practices of human 
gallants. Do not these begin by singing under 
the lady’s window, or by sending verses to her? 
and are not such proceedings intended to pre- 
pare the way, as speedily as possible, for others 
of a more satisfying, though it may be of a less 
romantic nature ? : 
Bearing this in mind, we may be able to ac- 
count, in part at least, for the inexperienced 
observer's disappointment when, fresh from the 
perusal of (for example) the thirteenth chapter 
of Darwin’s ‘“ Descent of Man,” he goes into 
the woods to look about for himself. He ex- 
pects to find here and there two or three song- 
sters, each in turn doing his utmost to surpass 
the brilliancy and power of the other’s music; 
while a feminine auditor sits in full view, pre- 
paring to render her verdict, and reward the 
successful competitor with her own precious 
