THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 277 



GoUgollgoUgoll gia hahadoi, 



Quigi horr ha diadiadillsi ! 



Hezezezezezezezezezezezezezezezezeze quarrhozehoi ; 



Quia, quia, quia, quia, quia, quia, quia, quia ti: 



Qi qi qi jo jo jo jojojojo qi— 



Lii ly li le la la 15 lo didl jo quia 



Higaigaigaigaigaigaigai gai gaigai, 



Quior ziozio pi.* 



Thrushes, unlike most birds, sit still when they sing, 

 and the songs, too, have a soothing quality. They 

 choose the summit of tall trees for their perch, as if to 

 avoid interruption. -f- 



The song of the blackbird that perches, on fine 

 evenings, on the topmost gable of a roof or the very 

 highest branch of a tree and lifts his deep and yet clear 

 and joyous voice is perhaps the most aesthetically effect- 

 ive of all. Audubon says of the cardinal bird: "His 

 song is at first loud and clear and suggestive of the best 

 tones of a flageolet, but it sinks lower and lower until 

 it dies away entirely. During his love time this noble 

 singer produces his notes with more force, and seems 

 conscious of his strength; he swells his breast, spreads 



* Nauraann found quite a different song common in his neigh- 

 bourhood, and, indeed, the nightingale's song varies very much, 

 which goes to prove that in so highly developed an art tradition 

 and imitation play an i^nportant part. But individual differences, 

 too, are found in their songs and those of the thrush and other 

 birds. For older imitations of the nightingale, see 0. Keller's 

 Thiere des classischen Alterthums, p. 317. 



f [So also does the American mocking-bird, often choosing the 

 tip of a lightning-rod. As the song proceeds the notes come faster 

 and faster, until the bird is lifted off the perch, thrown fluttering 

 straight up in the air, sometimes to a height of three or four feet, 

 and falls again by somersaults to the perch, never stopping the 

 song. — J. Mark Baldwin.] 



