YOICE AND SONG. 



9 



soft murmuring kind of note which the male emits while he ia 

 feeding the female on the nest, and also that uttered by her 

 while receiving the food. 



The Hon. DAINES BARRINGTON remarks, that " some passages 

 in the song of a few kinds of birds, correspond with the intervals 

 of our musical scale ; but that much the greater part of such a 

 song is not capable of musical notation, because first, the rapi- 

 dity is often too great, and it is also so uncertain where they may- 

 stop, that it is impossible to reduce the passages to form a musi- 

 cal bar in any time whatsoever : secondly, on account of the 

 pitch of most birds being considerably higher than the most 

 shrill notes of instruments of the greatest compass ; and lastly, 

 because the intervals used by birds are commonly so minute, that 

 we cannot judge at all of mem from the more gross intervals 

 into which our musical octave is divided." We cannot follow this 

 accomplished naturalist through the whole of his interesting 

 observations upon this subject. The table which follows will 

 serve to show his estimate of the comparative merits of some of 

 our leading feathered vocalists. 



ME. DAINES BARRINGTON'S TABLE.* 



* We quote this Table more as a curiosity than as an authority, as we think the 

 estimate in many respects very defective : for instance, the Robin is placed much 

 too high in the scale, and the Thrush and Blackbird as much too low ; for mellowness, 



