SONGS. 313 



the male passes from A (la) to B flat (si bemol) ; 

 that of the female, from G sharp (sol diese) to A. 

 The first note is short and transient, and has the 

 effect which our musicians call sensible ; so that it is 

 not detached from the second, but seems to slip into 

 it. Observe that, fortunately for the ear, they do not 

 both sing* at once ; in fact, if while the male sounded 

 B flat, the female struck A, or if the male uttered A, 

 while the female gave G sharp, there would result the 

 harshest and most insupportable of discords. We may 

 add, that this dialogue is subjected to a constant and 

 regular rhythm, with the measure of two times. 

 The inspector assured me that, during their amours, 

 these birds have a cry still sharper, but much more 

 agreeable *." 



With respect to birds singing at night, it is a great 

 mistake to suppose the nightingale to be the only 

 night songster, because it is the loudest and finest. 

 By the quotation given above from Captain Cook, it 

 appears that in New Zealand several birds sing all 

 night, arid in America the mock-bird sings as finely 

 at night as during the day. In England the most 

 remarkable night-singers, after the nightingale, are 

 the sedge-bird (Curruca salicaria, FLEMING), and 

 the dipper (Cmclns aquations, BECHSTEIN). Every 

 summer for many years we have observed the sedge- 

 bird hurrying over its singular medley at all hours of 

 the night, particularly by moonlight; and it seems 

 peculiar to this bird, that it will sing the louder when 

 a stone is thrown into the bush where it is singing, 

 an experiment we have often tried, and usually with 

 the same result. The dipper, we have no doubt, 

 commonly sings during the night, but from the 

 secluded streams which it frequents, it is seldom 

 heard; though we have more than once heard it by 

 accident on the river Ayr, and in the autumn of 1831 

 * Wood's BufFon, xix. 511, note. 



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