348 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



The song of woe,* which the poets have attributed to the 

 Nightingale is entirely fanciful. To the solitary and senti- 

 mental muser, the notes may have seemed plaintive in the 

 extreme, and suggested the idea of the widowed bird mourning 

 for her mate. But the songs of birds are not the vehicle of 

 sorrow, but the expression of joy; and in most cases they 

 proceed from the male bird, either while wooing his partner, 

 or cheering her in the performance of her maternal duties. 

 The song of the Nightingale is the outpouring of joy, and not 

 of sadness, and is due mainly, if not exclusively, to the male. 



The beautiful golden-crested Wren (S. regulus], the various 

 species of Titmice (Paras), the vivacious and attractive 

 Wagtails (Motacilla), can only be mentioned. To them suc- 

 ceed the Pipits (Anthus) frequenting the wood, the meadow, 

 or the coast, according to the different habits and food of the 

 several species. They lead by easy stages to the True Larks, 

 which commence the next group those which have the bills 

 conical. 



Fig. 266. HUMMING-BIRD. 



Before, however, giving attention to them, we would like 

 to pause for a moment on tropical birds remarkable for their 

 slender bills, and hence spoken of by some writers by a term 

 denoting this peculiarity (Tenuirostres). They cannot be 

 better exemplified than by the Humming-birds (Fig. 266), a 

 * "Here can I sit alone, unseen of any, 



And to the Nightingale's complaining notes 

 Tune my distresses and record my woes." 



Two GENTLEMEN OF VEUOXA, Act v. scene 4. 



