126 WOOD NOTES WILD. 



Music in Nature. (See p. 2.) 

 VESPER-MICE. 



Buckland, F: Log-book of a Fisherman and Zoologist (London, 

 1875), pp. 103, 104. Mr. Buckland says, "The song is a genuine song, 

 as good and as musical as that of a lark on a fine summer morning." 



Davis, W. T., in Amer. Nat., vol. xxiii., 1889, pp. 481-484. Ed- 

 wards, W. H., in Amer. Nat., vol. iii., 1870, p. 551. Lockwood, Rev. 

 S. : A singing hesperomys. (Amer. Nat., vol. v., 1871, p. 761.) Nature, 

 voL xvi., 1877, p. 558; vol. xvii., 1877, pp. 11, 29. 



Nor is music confined to the shore. 

 EEL AND FISH. 



See Abbott, Dr. C. C. : Waste-land Wanderings, pp. 300-302. 

 Edinburgh Philos. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 188. Musical Fishes. (Pop. 

 Sci. Mo., vol. xxiii., Aug., 1883, p. 571.) Peal, S. E. : Voice in Fish. 

 (Nature, vol. xxi., Nov., 1879, p. 55). Tennent, Sir J. E. : Sketches of 

 Nat. Hist, of Ceylon (London, 1861), pp. 380-385. White, Rev. G. : 

 Nat. Hist. Selborne, ed. by E. Jesse (London, 1878), p. 245, note. 

 Yarrell, W. : Hist, of Brit. Fishes, vol. i., pp. 44, 107. 



" A party lately crossing from the promontory in Salsette called the 

 * Neat's Tongue,' to near Sewree, were about sunset struck by hearing 

 long, distinct sounds like the protracted booming of a distant bell, the 

 dying cadence of an ^Eolian harp, the note of a pitch-pipe or pitch-fork, 

 or any other long-drawn-out musical note. It was at first supposed to be 

 music from Parell floating at intervals on the breeze ; then it was per- 

 ceived to come from all directions almost in equal strength, and to arise 

 from the surface of the water all round the vessel. The boatmen at once 

 intimated that the sounds were produced by fish abounding in the muddy 

 creeks and shoals around Bombay and Salsette ; they were perfectly well 

 known, and very often heard. Accordingly, on inclining the ear towards 

 the surface of the water ; or, better still, by placing it close to the planks 

 of the vessel, the notes appeared loud and distinct, and followed each other 

 in constant succession. The boatman next day produced specimens of the 

 fish, a creature closely resembling in size and shape the fresh-water 

 perch of the north of Europe, and spoke of them as plentiful and per- 

 fectly well known." Dr. Buist, in Bombay Times, January, 1847. 



