Why do some Birds Sing ? 247 



effort, he wraps his feathers more closely about 

 him, and then the song dies away as though he 

 could but whisper the thought that latest came to 

 him. The whole performance is ecstatic ; an ex- 

 pression of the emotions that is the counterpart 

 of music, whether vocal or instrumental, among 

 mankind. Here, then, we have an inkling, if not 

 much more, of why a bird sings. It has emotions 

 like unto our own, and expresses them in like 

 manner. 



Not every bird has the same manner ; very many 

 are far less demonstrative, and yet underlying it 

 all will be found the same impulse. Here is the 

 confiding little field-sparrow that will scarcely 

 move from your path. It is too happy to be for- 

 ever busy with life's commonplaces, and a hundred 

 times a day warbles a few gleeful notes that should 

 touch the heart of even a hawk, if the world was 

 not so far from perfect. The meadow-lark, too, 

 is another prominent example of what I would 

 make clear. It cannot withstand the temptation to 

 mount to the very topmost twig of the tallest tree 

 in the pasture, and for half an hour whistle " I see 

 you, you can't see me !" This song has nothing 



