152 IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA 



Of Darwin it need only be added that his words 

 on the subject of the songs of birds are so few and 

 of so little value that it is probable that this kind 

 of natural melody gave him little or no pleasure. 

 It is not unusual to meet with those who are abso- 

 lutely indifferent to it, just as there are others 

 who are not pleasurably moved by human music, 

 vocal or instrumental. 



In Spain Azara had been familiar from child- 

 hood with the songsters of Europe, and in Para- 

 guay and La Plata he paid great attention to the 

 language of the species he describes. In his ever 

 fresh Apuntamientos he says, ' ' They are mistaken 

 who think there are not as many and as good song- 

 sters here as in Europe ' ' ; and in the introduction 

 to the same work, referring to Buff on 's opinion 

 concerning the inferiority of the American song- 

 sters, he writes: "But if a choir of singers were 

 selected in the Old World, and .compared with 

 one of equal number gathered in Paraguay, I am 

 not sure which would win the victory." Of the 

 house-wren of La Plata (Troglodytes furvus), 

 Azara says that its song is "in style comparable 

 to that of the nightingale, although its phrases 

 are not so delicate and expressive; nevertheless 

 I count it among the first singers." This opinion 

 (with Daines Barrington's misleading table in my 

 mind) made me doubt the correctness of his judg- 

 ment, or memory, the wren in question being an 

 exceedingly cheerful singer; but when I came to 

 hear the nightingale, about whose song I had 



