BRITISH SONG-BIRDS. 109 



wings, tinged ivith pale wood-brown; legs and feet 

 dull flesh-red; claws brownisli-black. 



Of their Song, and Musical Power of Lnitation, 



The Hon. Daines Barrington has given a table 

 of the comparative merits of singing birds with 

 regard to their notes, — 20 being the point of per- 

 fection: In which the nightingale's is said to 

 be 19 in mello^vness, 19 in plaintiveness, 19 in 

 compass, 19 in dm'ation, and 14 in spiightliness. 

 He also says, that the sound of its song filled 

 " the circle of an English mile;" and that, when 

 it sang round the whole compass of its Avarble, he 

 remarked sixteen different beginnings and closes. 

 Tlie notes between were varied with so much 

 seeming art, and tlie manner of modulating them 

 was so skilfully managed, that the effect was both 

 grand and pleasing, Kercher and Barrington both 

 attempted to note this bird's song in musical types; 

 but, although the notes were played by an excel- 

 lent performer on the German flute, they bore no 

 resemblance to the native warble of the bird; 

 owing, as Mr Barrington conjectured, to the im- 

 possibility of marking the musical intervals; for 

 the measure was so varied, the transitions so in- 



