126 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



anger and fear; but the highest development of 

 their vocal elYorts seems to be devoted to charm- 

 ing the females. If birds have a love of music, 

 then there must be a marvellous diversity of taste 

 among them, ranging all the way from the shriek- 

 ing, strident screams of the parrots and macaws 

 to the tender pathos of the wood pewee and the 

 hermit thrush. 



If birds have not some appreciation of sweet 

 sounds, then we must consider the many different 

 songs as mere by-products, excess of vitality 

 which expresses itself in results, in many cases, 

 strangely aesthetic and harmonious. A view mid- 

 way is indefinable as regards the boundaries 

 covered by each theory. How much of the pea- 

 cock's train or of the thrush's song is appreciated 

 by the female! How much is by-product merely? 



In these directions a great field lies open to the 

 student and lover of birds ; but however we decide 

 for ourselves in regard to the exact meaning and 

 evolution of song, and what use it subserves 

 among the birds, we all admit the effect and pleas- 

 ure it produces in ourselves. A world without the 

 song of birds is greatly lacking — such is a desert, 

 where even the harsh croak of a raven is melody. 



Perhaps the reason why the songs of birds give 

 more lasting pleasure than many other things is 

 that sound is so wonderfully potent to recall days 

 and scenes of our past life. Like a sunset, the 



