BIED MUSIC IN SOUTH AMEEICA 153 



formed so false an idea, it seemed to me that 

 Azara was not far out. Nothing here surprised 

 me more than the song of the British wren a 

 current of sharp high unshaded notes, so utterly 

 different to the brilliant joyous and varied lyric 

 of his near relation in that distant land. 



The melodious wren family counts many genera, 

 rich in species, throughout the Neotropical region : 

 and just as in that continent the thrushes have 

 developed a more varied and beautiful music in 

 the mocking-birds, so it has been with this family 

 in such genera as Thyothorus and Cyphorhinus, 

 which include the celebrated flute-birds and organ- 

 birds of tropical South America. D'Orbigny, in 

 the Voyage dans I'Amerique Meridionals, speaks 

 rapturously of one of these wrens, perched on a 

 bough overhanging the torrent, where its rich 

 melodious voice seemed in strange contrast to the 

 melancholy aspect of its surroundings. Its voice, 

 he says, which is not comparable to anything we 

 have in Europe, exceeds that of the nightingale 

 in volume and expression. Frequently it sounds 

 like a melody rendered by a flute at a great dis- 

 tance ; at other times its sweet and varied cadences 

 are mingled with clear piercing tones and deep 

 throat-notes. We have really no words, he con- 

 cludes, adequate to express the effects of this song, 

 heard in the midst of a nature so redundant, and 

 of mountain scenery so wild and savage. 



Mr. Simson, in his Travels in the Wilds of Ecua- 

 dor, writes quite as enthusiastically of a species 



