BIEDS, SONGS OF. 



87 



3. The chopping-note is a low-pitched and 

 abrupt note, sounding like chop, chop, uttered 

 several times in quick succession, and is inter- 

 mediate in quality between the truly musical 

 and the simply noisy tones of the nightingale. 



4. The needle-note is the most acute of all 

 the bird's tones, and is seemingly produced 

 during inspiration. The finest cambric needle 

 would be coarse compared with the delicate 

 thread of this long-drawn sound, which is so 

 acute at times as to be scarcely audible ; and 

 as it is often broadened to the average volume 

 of tone again with a swift descent, the effect 

 is most brilliant. 



5. The gnarl is another characteristic note 

 of the nightingale, and may be compared to 

 the sound of a knotted string drawn rapidly 

 through a small aperture in a thin sounding- 

 board. The gnarled notes are always quick 

 and forcible, most commonly given on a rising 

 scale, and form one of the striking contrasts in 

 song in which the bird delights, and are often 

 immediately followed by the sweetest tones. 



6. The water-notes are delightful, liquid, 

 purling sounds, interspersed at frequent inter- 

 vals throughout the performance. These water- 

 notes are unequaled even by the finest tones of 

 this kind known to be prodnced by the most 

 cultivated canary songsters. The nearest ap- 

 proach is the water -roll of St. Andreasberg 

 canaries, which has been developed for so 

 many generations by bird-fanciers, by careful 

 selection, and by furnishing nightingales as in- 

 structors for the canaries. 



7. The continuous roll is possessed almost 

 exclusively by the canary, and the nightingale 

 is one of the very few birds that share to some 

 degree the faculty of rolling at any pitch of 

 the voice uninterruptedly. 



8. The flute - notes are long, sweet tones, 

 which have rare purity and a most charming 

 effect, and are repeated at all points of the 

 compass of the voice. 



9. The rattle is a note in which philomel 

 especially delights. It is confined to the lower 

 range of the voice, and consists of a prolonged 

 rattle, which at the same time has a liquid 

 sound, as if small, hard substances were shaken 

 in a vessel containing liquid. Some nightin- 

 gales make much use of this musical rattle as 

 a sort of accompaniment to their higher notes. 



Any account of the song of the nightingale 

 would be incomplete without some reference 

 to that of a larger species of the bird, found 

 chiefly in eastern Europe, and much fancied by 

 connoisseurs. The bird referred to is Luscinia 

 major, and it is about a third larger than the 

 common nightingale, of much stouter build, 

 and it is slightly mottled on the breast. The 

 larger bird has not the same remarkable vari- 

 ety of notes as the smaller one; but it has 

 louder and longer tones of equal purity and 

 expression, and even more wonderful talent in 

 the modulation of its song. Its long, quiver- 

 ing tones are so rich and full of pathos, that 

 they are sure to captivate the listener, who will 



also be astonished at the deliberation and per- 

 fect command of voice with which the various 

 inflections of the song are rendered. At the 

 height of its song its artful modulations* and 

 distinct phrases approach in character to musi- 

 cal compositions. The nightingale has been 

 compared to the violin, and the larger species 

 to the violoncello, which has qualities like the 

 human voice ; and it has been said that, while 

 other birds whistle, Luscinia major alone sings. 

 This study of the song of the nightingale, al- 

 though more complete than any that the writer 

 has been able to find, does not by any means 

 exhaust all the tones or describe all the notes 

 of this entertaining bird. 



The Canary (Oarduelis canaria). The cana- 

 ry, of all caged birds, is the most universally 

 known and liked. The Germans have given 

 great care to the breeding of this universal pet, 

 and they supply most of the markets of the 

 world with the finest birds from the Harz 

 Mountains, and more especially from St. An- 

 dreasburg, which is celebrated for its educated 

 canaries, which are never allowed to hear any 

 but the best singers of their own kind, and 

 are also kept near such artistic performers as 

 larks and nightingales, so that they acquire oc- 

 casional notes from them, in addition to the 

 parent-song. The canary has a great faculty 

 for imitation when young, but, after it has ma- 

 tured fully in one manner of voice and song, it 

 seldom changes. If removed from the nest be- 

 fore it has heard the parent-song, and raised 

 alongside of some other singing-bird, it will 

 often sing the foreign notes, or it will even 

 learn to pipe a tune from a bird-organ, and the 

 writer has heard one thus educated pipe an 

 operatic air to the complete exclusion of its 

 own song. In fact, the ordinary song of the 

 bird retains but few of the notes of the origi- 

 nal canary from the Canary Islands. An anal- 

 ysis of the song of the canary shows that the 

 original notes, or distinctly separate tones of 

 which it is composed, number from ten to 

 twenty. Few birds have all these distinct 

 notes, and those that have a dozen separate 

 tones are considered to possess a full song. 

 The canary does not improvise or change its 

 song, but as a rule it repeats the same notes in 

 the same order. This round of song may be 

 slightly changed from one season to another ; 

 but this is the exception, and it is very rare 

 that a new note is added after the first year. 

 The following are the principal notes of the 

 canary's song : 



1. The roll is the most characteristic of all 

 the canary-notes. No other bird is known to 

 possess this roll in such perfection as the cana- 

 ry ; and, of the myriad songsters of the great- 

 forests, those that have any use of this note can 

 be counted on the fingers of one hand. This 

 even and continuous roll is as perfect as the 

 trill of any instrument^ and can be produced at 

 any pitch within the range of the voice. The 

 same bird often gives it pitched in five or six 

 different ways, with pleasing swell and inodu- 



