106 Ornithology. 



commodious fabric for her intended brood. When the 

 building is complete, and she has laid her portion of eggs, 

 incubation immediately takes place. The male is now heard 

 loud again, but not near so frequently as at first : he never 

 rambles from her hearing, and seldom from her sight; if she 

 leaves her nest he soon perceives it, and pursues her, sometimes 

 accompanied with soft notes of love. When the callow 

 brood appear, he is instantly apprised of it, either by instinct 

 or by the female carrying away the fragment shells to some 

 distant place. The male is now no more heard in the tuneful 

 glee, unless a second brood should force the amorous song 

 again ; his whole care and attention is now taken up in 

 satisfying the nutrimental calls of his tender infant race, 

 which he does with no less assiduity than his mate, carrying 

 them food, and returning frequently with muting of the young 

 in his beak, which is dropped at a distance from the nest. 

 Here we must beg leave to digress for a moment to remark, 

 that, with the utmost attention, we have never been able to 

 discover the parent birds giving their young a musical lesson ; 

 and much question if the late brood of many species ever 

 hear the song of their parents, till they join chorus the ensuing 

 spring, when they also feel the impulse of love, the great 

 dictate of nature. 



The continuation of song in caged birds, by no means 

 proves it is not occasioned by the stimulus of love ; indeed, it 

 is likely the redundancy of animal matter, from plenty of food 

 and artificial heat, may produce it; and this is suflfiicient 

 reason for continuing their song longer than birds in their 

 natural wild state, because they have a constant stimulus ; 

 whereas wild birds have it abated by a commerce with the 

 other sex, by which, and other causes, it is prevented. It is 

 true wild birds are heard to sing sometimes in the middle of 

 winter when the air is mild, animated by the genial warmth 

 of the sun, which acts as a stimulus. 



Syme's remarks on the songs of birds are worth quoting. 

 ' The notes,' says he, ' of soft-billed birds, are finely toned, 

 mellow and plaintive ; those of the hard-billed species are 

 sprightly, cheerful and rapid. The difference proceeds from 

 the construction of the larynx ; as a large pipe of an organ 

 produces a deeper and more mellow-toned note than a small 

 pipe, so the iracAea of the nightingale, which is wider than 

 that of the Canary, sends forth a deeper and more mellow-toned 

 note. Soft-billed birds, also, sing more from the lower part 

 of the throat than the hard-billed species. This, together 

 with the greater width of the larynx of the nightingale and 



