SONGS. 189 



ists, and adopted by poets, is, that the singing of 

 birds is the language of courtship and affection. 

 " The song of male birds," says Buffon, " springs 

 from the emotion of love : the canary in his cage, 

 the greenbird in (the fields, the oriole in the woods, 

 chant th^tnotes with a fond, sonorous voice, and 

 their matwrreply in more feeble strains." He adds, 

 "\vhat is by no means the fact, that " the nightingale, 

 when he first arrives in spring, is silent, begins with 

 faltering, infrequent airs, and it is not till the dam 

 sits on her eggs that he pours out the warm melody 

 of his heart: then he relieves and sooths her te- 

 dious incubation; then he redoubles his caresses, 

 and warbles with deeper pathos." On the contrary, 

 we uniformly observe among the innumerable night- 

 ingales which annually arrive in our neighbourhood 

 in spring, that the males sing out in as full, clear 

 notes on their first appearanqe (usually many days 

 before the arrival of the females) as they ever do 

 afterward. Buffon concludes that his opinion de- 

 rives additional support from the circumstance of 

 song-birds becoming silent, or their notes being less 

 sweet after the breeding season is over. 



Another naturalist of eminence, Colonel Monta- 

 gu, is more circumstantial in his arguments for the 

 same opinion; and though we do not agree- altogeth- 

 er with his explanations, the greater number of his 

 facts are unquestionable. " The males of song- 

 birds," he says, " and many others, do not, in gen- 

 eral, search for the female ; but, on the contrary, 

 their business in the spring is to perch on some 

 conspicuous spot, breathing out their full notes, 

 which, by instinct, the female knows, and repairs 

 to the spot to choose her mate. This is particu- 

 larly verified with respect to the summer-birds of 

 passage. The nightingale, and most of its genus, 

 although timid and shy to a great degree, mount 

 aloft, and incessantly pour forth their strains, each 

 seemingly vying in its love-laboured song before 



