Bird Music in South America. 161 
travelling in their small canoes, along the shady 
by-paths, as if struck by the mysterious sound.” 
The sound must be wonderful indeed to produce 
such an effect ! 
To finish with quotations, the following sensible 
passage from Wallace’s Amazon and fio Negro 
should help us greatly in getting rid of an ancient 
error: ‘‘ We are inclined to think that the general 
statement, that the birds of the tropics have a 
deficiency of song proportionate to their brilliancy 
of plumage, requires to be modified. Many of the 
brilliant birds of the tropics belong to families or 
groups which have no song; but our most brilliantly- 
coloured birds, as the goldfinch and canary, are 
not less musical, and there are many beautiful little 
birds here which are equally so. We heard notes 
resembling those of the blackbird and robin, and 
one bird gave forth three or four sweet plaintive 
notes that particularly attracted our attention ; 
while many have peculiar cries, in which words may 
be traced by the fanciful, and which in the stillness 
of the forest have a very pleasing effect.” 
To return, before concluding, to Azara’s remark 
about a choir of birds selected in Paraguay. It 
seems to me that when the best singers of any two 
districts have been compared and a verdict arrived 
at, something more remains to be said. The 
dulcet strains of a few of the most highly-esteemed 
songsters contribute only a part, by no means the 
largest part, of the pleasure we receive from the 
bird sounds of any district. All natural sounds 
M 
