80NGS OF BIRDS. 203 



seen especially in male humming-birds. Sot -. how- 



ever, both Bexea are equally ornamented, and in rare < 

 the female is more highly colored than the male; she is 

 sometimes also larger, as in most birds of prey. There is 

 little doubt thai the bright colors of male birds render 

 them more conspicuous and to be more readily chosen by 

 the females as mates, for in birds, as in higher animals the 

 female may Bhow a preference for or antipathy againsl 

 tain males. Indeed, as Darwin remarks, whenever the-. 

 of birds differ m beauty, in the power of singing, or in pro- 

 ducing what he calls "instrumental music," it is almost 

 invariably the male which excels the female 



The songs of birds are doubtless in part love-no! 

 though birds also sing for pleasure. The notes of birds 

 express their emotions of joy or alarm, and in some < 

 at least the calls of birds seem to convey intelligence of the 

 discovery of food to their young or their mates.* They 

 have an ear for music; some species, as the mocking-bird, 

 will imitate the notes of other birds. The songs of birds 

 can he set to music. Mr. X. Chirk has published in the 

 American Naturalist (vol. xiii. p. 21) the songs of a num- 

 ber of our birds. The singular antic-, dances, mid-air • 

 lutions, struts, and posturings of different birds, are with- 

 out doubt the visible signs of emot ions w Inch in ither birds 

 rind vent in vocal music. 



The nesting habits ot birds are varied. Many birds, 



* "It is necessary in a philosophical spirit to regard ever) souud 

 in. i'!c by a bird under the all-powerful influence of love or lusl 

 'song.' It seems impossible to draw any but an arbitrary line bet - 

 the deep booming of the emeu, the harsh cry of the guillemot (\\ hid) 



when proceeding from a hundred or a thousand lb 

 distant ear in a confused murmur like the roar of a tumultuous crowd), 

 the plaintive wail of the plover, the melodious whi lh< wid- 



geon, the 'cock's shrill clarion,' the Bcream of lh< 



of the owl. tin' so 1 emu chime of the hell-bird, the whip-crackii 

 the manakin, the chaffinch's joyous burst, or the hoarse croak of the 



raven, mi the one hand, and the bleating <>f the snipe or the drum- 

 ming of the ruffed grouse ou the other." (A. New ton.) 



