26 BIRDS AND MAN 



and less musical sound than the other. Still 

 again, in the case of the blackbird, which has a 

 considerable variety in its language, there is one 

 little chirp familiar to every one — a small round 

 drop of sound of a musical, bell-like character. 

 Now it happens that one of the true thrushes 

 of Sofuth America, a bird resembling our song- 

 thrush, has an almost identical bell- like chirp, 

 and so far as that small drop of sound is con- 

 cerned the old image may be refreshed by new 

 sense -impressions. Or I might even say that 

 the original image has been covered by the later 

 one, as in the case of the laughter-like cries of 

 the Dominican and the black-backed gulls. But 

 with regard to the thrushes, excepting that 

 small drop of sound, the language of the two 

 species is utterly different. Each has a melody 

 perfect of its kind : the song of the foreign 

 bird is not fluty nor. mellow nor placid like 

 that of the blackbird, but has in a high 

 degree that quality of plaintiveness and glad- 

 ness commingled which we admire in some 

 fresh and very beautiful human voices, like 

 that described in Lowell's lines "To Perdita 

 Singing " : — 



