SONGS. 193 



a deeper and more mellow-toned note than a small 

 pipe, so the windpipe of the nightingale, which is 

 wider than that of the canary, sends forth a deeper 

 and more mellow-toned note. Soft-billed birds also 

 sing more from the lower part of the throat than 

 the hard-billed species. This, together with the 

 greater width, of the tube in the nightingale and 

 other soft-billed warblers, firily accounts for their 

 soft, round, mellow notes, compared with the shrill, 

 sharp, and clear notes of the canary and other hard- 

 billed song-birds."* 



Though birds of the same species very closely 

 resemble each other in the general tenour of their 

 song, individuals differ widely both in the introduc- 

 tion of particular passages, the result, probably, of 

 accidental acquirements, and in skill of execution 

 as well as in intonation, the latter peculiarities obvi- 

 ously depending on physical varieties in their vocal 

 organs. Wilson says he was so familiar with the 

 notes of an individual wood-thrush (Turdus melodus), 

 that he could recognise him above his fellows the 

 moment he entered the woods. f 



Mr. Knapp has the following excellent and accu- 

 rate remarks on the same subject. " Birds," he 

 says, " of one species sing, in general, very like each 

 other, with different degrees of execution. Some 

 counties may produce finer songsters, but without 

 great variation in the notes. In the thrush, how- 

 ever, it is remarkable that there seems to be no 

 regular notes, each individual piping a voluntary of 

 his own. Their voices may always be distinguished 

 amid the choristers of the copse, yet some one per- 

 former will more particularly engage attention by 

 a peculiar modulation or tone ; and should several 

 stations of these birds be visited in the same morn- 

 ing, few or none, probably, will be found to pre- 



* British Song-birds, 

 t Amer. Ornith, 

 R 



