NATURE'S CHOIR. 81 



In the summer months the Wood Warbler, 

 the Willow Wren, and Chiff-Chaff visit us, clear- 

 ing the trees of small insects and aphis, and 

 charming us with their sweet, pleasing songs, 

 which they continue to sing all day and well 

 into the summer until their young are hatched. 



" The melody of birds," says Broderip in his 

 " Zoological Recreations," " finds its way to the 

 ear of everyone, but the cause that prompts 

 the outpourings that make copse, rock, and river 

 ring again on a fine spring morning, is -more a 

 matter of doubt with ornithologists than the 

 uninitiated in zoological mysteries might suppose. 

 Much has been written on this subject, and upon 

 a consideration of the different opinions, aided 

 by our own observations, we are inclined to 

 think that love and rivalry are the t\vo great 

 stimulants, though we do not mean to deny 

 that a bird may sing from mere gaiety of heart, 

 arising from finding itself in the haunts dear to 

 it, and in the midst of plenty of the food it 

 likes." 



