Bird Music in South America. 157 



expressed by Eui'opean writers of the melodists of 

 my country, and at the same time disclaimed any 

 intention of attempting to describe their melody 

 myself, comparing it with that of England. For- 

 tunately for my purpose, not all the travellers in 

 South America, whose words carry weight, have 

 turned a deaf or unappreciative ear to the bird music 

 of the great bird continent : there are notable ex- 

 ceptions ; from these I shall proceed to quote a few 

 passages in support of my contention, beginning 

 with Felix de Azara, a contemporary of Buffon, and 

 concluding with the two most illustrious travellers 

 of our own day who have visited South America — 

 "Wallace and Bates. 



Of Darwin it need only be added that his words 

 on the subject of the songs of birds are so few and 

 of so little value that it is probable that this kind 

 of natural melody gave him little or no pleasure. 

 It is not unusual to meet with those who are abso- 

 lutely indifferent to it, just as there ai-e others who 

 are not pleasurably moved by human music, vocal or 

 instrumental. 



In Spain Azara had been familiar from childhood 

 with the songsters of Europe, and in Paraguay and 

 La Plata he paid great attention to the language of 

 the species he describes. In his ever fresh Ajnin- 

 tamientos he says, " They are mistaken who think 

 there are not as many and as good songsters here as 

 in Europe;" and in the introduction to the same 

 work, referring to Buffon's opinion concerning the 

 inferiority of the American songsters, he writes : 



