THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 277 



Gollgollgollgoll 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 16 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.| 



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 



* Nauinann 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 important 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.] 



