THE ANATOMY OF BIRD-SONG. 105 



clash between the two. But to the bird- 

 voices that have charmed all manner of men 

 and women, let us turn in the spirit of the 

 truth-seeker, and leave the fools biting the 

 iron spikes of vain contention. There shall 

 be neither vagary nor agnosticism in our per- 

 formances; we will simply look into the 

 birds' mouths, and inquire about their tender 

 flutiiigs, and examine their melodious throats. 



Nor will we indulge in the precious jargon 

 of the sciences, any further than to borrow a 

 few of its most necessary technical words and 

 phrases in case we are hard pressed for a 

 means of lucid expression. 



Study in the fields and woods is so different 

 from study in the library and laboratory, 

 that in writing of it one is apt to forget to 

 respect that dusty, musty air and that 

 skeleton-like stiffness of style so dear to the 

 heart of the closet scientist. After all, how- 

 ever, it is quite probable that there really is 

 nothing in truth which demands or deserves 

 the ill treatment implied by harsh words and 

 unmelodious phrasing. Indeed I sometimes 

 wonder that comparative anatomists are not 

 all poets, like Goethe, or seers, like Emerson. 

 The truths of biology are so perfectly out- 

 lined, and yet so dim, so near, and yet so 

 unreachable, so set in an atmosphere of fasci- 

 nating mystery, so suggestive of inexpressible 

 things hovering just beyond the reach of 

 thought, that the imagination strikes at them, 

 as a bird might strike at its own shining re- 

 flection in a shimmering summer pool. I 

 dare say that one manifestation of life is just 

 as mysterious as any other ; but the mystery 

 of song, having the charm we all know yet 

 cannot explain, is a double mystery. Emer- 

 son understood it well when he exclaimed : 



" Aloft, in secret veins of air, 

 Blows the sweet breath of song 1 " 



