SONGS WITHOUT WORDS. 191 



produced upon these cords by means of special muscles, and pri- 

 marily through the outward passage of air-currents from the lungs, 

 voice and its variations are produced. 



Such is an outline of a lesson in elementary physiology which may 

 be more fully learned, to the advantage of all herein concerned, from 

 a shilling primer such as we may see thanks to the advance of true 

 culture in use in very many of our secondary schools. The vocal 

 organs of birds are constructed on a type essentially similar to that 

 of man ; but were we to apply to a primer of zoology for further in- 

 formation concerning the bird-class and its voice-organs, we should be 

 told that birds actually possess two such organs one situated as 

 man's is placed, at the top of the windpipe, and one at the root of the 

 windpipe, just before that tube divides into two to supply the lungs 

 with air. Thus birds have an upper larynx and a lower larynx ; and 

 it is the latter which is the true organ of voice. Of all points in the 

 history of birds, none is more surprising than the extreme variations 

 in their song. A warbler has just finished its trill, with a burst of 

 sweet melody that makes me long for a repetition of the song ; the 

 memory of the skylark's chaunt is ever-present with us as a morning 

 hymn ; and the night closes with a varied concert from the wooded 

 grove in front of the house. The notes of the ducks bring before us 

 another phase of bird- voice, the sharp paean cry of the peacock re- 

 sounds in our ears, and the clang of the swan reminds us of the harsh 

 and discordant as well as the sweeter lays of bird-life. " Why do 

 birds sing ? ; ' asked the naturalists of old, and each supplied a diffe- 

 rent answer to the query. Says Montagu, the " business " of the male 

 songbirds " is to perch on some conspicuous spot, breathing out their 

 full and amorous notes, which by instinct the female knows, and 

 repairs to the spot to choose her mate." Once more the love-song 

 theory appears to view, and finds its support in facts. Bechstein, 

 careful observer and enthusiastic ornithologist, tells us that finches 

 and canaries will choose the best singer as a mate ; and the lady- 

 nightingales are known to place the same high estimate on a fine flow 

 of song. Then comes the "rivalry and emulation " theory, founded, 

 to my way of thinking, upon the too lax notion that birds are bound 

 to imitate the feelings of humanity, and which declares that birds 

 sing for the sake of vanquishing their fellows, and that in every wood 

 an "Eisteddfod" is held, with its exhibition of vainglory, jealousy, 

 and emulation in the musical art. But emulation, if it exist, may be 

 a part of the ordinary business of courtship, as one has every reason 

 to believe it forms no small part of the phenomena of love-making in 

 higher life, and the theory of rivalry in song may thus be included in 

 the larger theory that birds sing because they mate, and mate because 

 they sing. 



Another important consideration remains to be noticed. It is 



