MOTIF OF BIRD SONG. 83 



famous singer. Near the home of Mr. Jeffer- 

 son Davis, and, I believe, upon the estate of 

 the ex-Confederate chieftain, I sat in the 

 shade of a water-oak and heard a mocking- 

 bird sing, over in a thrifty vineyard, the rare 

 dropping-song of which naturalists appear to 

 have taken no notice. It was a balmy day in 

 March; the sky, the gulf, the air all hazy 

 and shimmering, the whole world swimming 

 in a purplish mist of dreams, and I felt that 

 the song was the expression of some such 

 sweet passionate longing as exhales from 

 Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale. 1 ' Under the 

 low-hanging boughs, and over the level, 

 daisy-sprinkled ground, I gazed upon the 

 sheeny reach of water, half convinced that I 

 was looking through 



" Magic casements, opening on the foam 

 Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn," 



and the very tones of the bird's voice ac- 

 corded with the feeling in which the day was 

 steeped. 



Genuine bird-song is simply the highest 

 form of avian vocalization, by which instinc- 

 tively, if not premeditatedly, the bird finds 

 expression of pleasure. The absence of true 

 rhythm probably is significant of a want of 

 power to appreciate genuine music, the bird's 

 comprehension compassing no more than the 

 value of sweet sounds merely as such. 



As to the origin of bird-song, it has come, 

 it seems to me, in response to a growth of the 

 natural desire for a means of expression. 

 Language is the highest mode of expression, 

 and bird-song is a beautiful and witching, 

 but very imperfect, language. Tn this con- 

 nection it is a striking fact that all the most 

 gifted avian singers are small. The nightin- 



