6 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



[vol. VIII. 



steady sound in F, which generally falls a minor- third 

 or a minor-second in legato (sometimes it is slurred 

 down) ; this movement is followed by a pause of the 

 remarkable duration of nearly three seconds ; after the 

 rest, comes a soft tone, only to be heard quite near, 

 generally at the pitch of the preceding one ; after a 

 second quite short pause, the finale begins in F. It 

 repeats the first high note — generally three times, in 

 quavers — and then again descends in decrescendo to a 

 third. The composition of these strophes is remarkably 

 regular, apart from a few little variations in rhythm and 

 intervals. The timbre is exactly that of the stopped 

 diapason of the organ or of the okarina : especially with 

 the latter the whole song can be rendered in a hfe-like 

 manner. 



Nightingale [Luscinia m. megarhyncha). — Three short 

 motives — 



/. 



J. 



/^n 1 i 



'-^ 



h 



mh^tiT 



V 



'^^ V.' 



flt i flrl r 



^v 



STROPHE OF XIGHTIXGALE. 



Description : The three strophes range in about the 

 same pitch and have the characteristic and frequently- 

 used finale of the Nightingale — a short high-note which 

 is joined to a long melodious " roller." The first motive 

 contains the dreamy, sometimes often-repeated, cry of 

 longing with its entrancing " great crescendo " ; the 

 second strophe shows, after a short staccato in semi- 

 quavers, a descending movement in quavers, which is 

 the characteristic of the Wood-Lark's song ; the third 

 shoAvs that the singer sometimes mingles impure tones, 

 even noises like the winding of a watch, with its song. 



Wren {Troglodytes t. troglodytes). — The strophe of this 

 bird consists of five motives (parts) : four staccato 



