ORGANS OF VOICE. 65 



twittering note of pleasure; but if a wasp or bee is 

 placed before it, at once its note becomes harsh, express- 

 ing its dislike, as well as fears. 



Nobody can doubt, who sees a bird singing, clapping 

 its little wings, turning from side to side, and glancing 

 its bright eyes in all directions, as if courting attention 

 and admiration, that it feels delight and satisfaction. 

 Did we require further proof, we have but to recollect 

 that the song-bird is most on the alert with the music of 

 his voice, when its affection and interests are awakened 

 by attention to its mate, during the time of rearing its 

 young. The male may then be generally seen on some 

 twig or bough, at no great distance from the nest ; in 

 most cases becoming silent, if aware of a stranger's ap- 

 proach, or exchanging the note of pleasure, for another 

 of anger and complaint, which too often produces the 

 very evil it dreads. Thus, the Nightingale, one of our 

 shyest and most timid birds, will frequently discover its 

 nest, by making a jarring noise, and also a snapping and 

 cracking, at the same time pursuing people along the 

 hedges, as they walk, when its young are in a helpless 

 state. The male Blackcap is still more incautious, for 

 it will commence and continue its song, even when sit- 

 ting on its nest, and thus too frequently become the 

 innocent cause of the capture of its brood. 



The loud cries of other birds, however, particularly of 

 many of the migratory water-birds, which fly by night, 

 are evidently intended for the purpose of keeping them 

 together. Few have been without opportunities of 

 listening, in the silence of the night, to the incessant 

 cackling of a flight of wild Geese, on their way to some 

 distant spot, high in the air. In the Northern seas, 

 sounds of this sort are more frequently heard, from birds 

 which never come so far to the southward. Of these is 

 the red-breasted Diver, which seldom quits the water by 

 day, but during the night may be known to be on the 

 wing, at a vast height, by a peculiarly melancholy and 

 distressing scream, exactly resembling that of a young 



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