i yo ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



very plaintive about the Robin's autumnal song 



a melancholy sadness that seems in harmony with 



falling leaves, damp, decaying vegetation, and 



wren in bare boughs. As an autumn songster, the Wren 



song, 22nd ... . 



September. 1S sure to attract constant notice, his song being 

 renewed after the moult, and attaining all its loud 

 and varied beauty as the mellow days of the 

 Indian summer gild the waning year. The Song 

 Thrush may sing a little now and then in autumn, 

 and the Blackbird warbles even less frequently 

 still; but the mellow voice of the " Stormcock" 

 or Missel-thrush, is now at its best. Cheerily 

 t sounds his splendid song, from the topmost 

 branches of the trees ; early and late the speckled 

 musician pipes away, neither wind nor storm 

 staying his notes. It is probable that the Missel- 

 thrush may pair during the late autumn or early 

 winter ; hence the richness and abundance of his 

 song, and his noisy, quarrelsome, and gregarious 

 habits at this season. The Starling and the 



Hedge Hedge Sparrow are also autumn songsters, and 



Sparrow & 



regains song contribute no mean share to the scanty concert ot 



September. ^ WOQC J S an( J figj^g at ^5 season . Another 



bird that regains its song directly after the moult 

 is the Skylark. There is something delightfully 

 English about the song of this bird no other 

 music seems so thoroughly in harmony with our 

 peaceful meadows and breezy uplands. It speaks 

 eloquently of freedom, and is one long musical 

 declamation against restraint. His delightful 

 trills are as well known as they are indescribable, 



