-Esthetic and Moral Reasons 121 



him by a taste of the dragon's blood. A bird 

 sings to him of Briinhilde, the flame-encircled 

 warrior maiden. The bird wings its flight 

 through the forest and Siegfried follows joy- 

 ously. 



In Haydn's The Creation a soprano sings: — 



"On mighty pens uplifted soars 

 The eagle aloft and cleaves the air 

 In swiftest flight to the blazing sun. 

 His welcome bids to morn the merry lark, 

 And cooing calls the tender dove his mate. 

 From every bush and grove resound 

 The nightingale's delightful notes; 

 No grief affected yet her breast, 

 Nor to a mournful tale were turned 

 Her soft enchanting lays. " 



Grieg's beautiful Spring song fairly twitters 

 with the joyous notes of birds, and this, with 

 Schubert's " Hark, hark, the lark, " from Cymbe- 

 line and Abt's When the Swallows Homeward Fly 

 are among the many familiar examples which 

 might be cited of the contribution which birds, 

 directly and indirectly, have made to music. 



And birds have afi^ected literature even more. 

 Thousands of books have been written either 

 wholly or partly on birds. Many of these are 

 English, but all civilized peoples have their 

 books on this subject. One of the most beauti- 



