148 IMPRESSIONS OF SOME ENGLISH BIRDS. 



the crowing of the cock in the morning. When I 

 was hunting for the nightingale, the thrush frequently 

 made such a din just at dusk as to be a great annoy- 

 ance. At Kew, where I passed a few weeks, its 

 shrill pipe usually woke me in the morning. 



A thrush of a much mellower strain is the black- 

 bird, which is our robin cut in ebony. His golden 

 bill gives a golden touch to his song. It was the 

 most leisurely strain I heard. Amid the loud, viva- 

 cious, workaday chorus it had an easeful dolce far 

 niente effect. I place the song before that of our 

 robin, where it belongs in quality, but it falls short 

 in some other respects. It constantly seemed to me 

 as if the bird was a learner and had not yet mastered 

 his art. The tone is fine, but the execution is la- 

 bored ; the musician does not handle his instrument 

 with deftness and confidence. It seems as if the bird 

 was trying to whistle some simple air, and never 

 quite succeeding. Parts of the song are languid and 

 feeble, and the whole strain is wanting in the decision 

 and easy fulfillment of our robin's song. The bird is 

 noisy and tuneful in the twilight, the same as his 

 American congener. 



Such British writers on birds and bird life as I 

 have been able to consult do not, it seems to me, 

 properly discriminate and appreciate the qualities and 

 merits of their own songsters. The most melodious 

 strain I heard, and the only one that exhibited to the 

 full the best qualities of the American songsters, pro- 

 ceeded from a bird quite unknown to fame, in the 



