128 BIRDS AND MAN 



among the lieaves was the willow wren. In vain 

 he had turned to the ornithological works ; the 

 song he had heard, or at all events the song as 

 he had heard it, was not described therein ; and 

 yet to this day he cannot hear it differently — 

 cannot dissociate the sound from the idea of a 

 fairy-Uke child with an exquisitely pure, bright, 

 spiritual voice laughingly speaking in some green 

 place. 



And yet Gilbert White over a century ago 

 had noted the human quality in the willow wren's 

 voice when he described it as an " easy, joyous, 

 laughing note." It is still better to be able to 

 quote Mr. Warde Fowler, when writing in A 

 Year with the Birds, on the futile attempts which 

 are often made to represent birds' songs by means 

 of our notation, since birds are guided in their 

 songs by no regular succession of intervals. 

 Speaking of th6 willow wren in this connection, 

 he adds : " Strange as it may seem, the songs of 

 birds may perhaps be more justly compared with 

 the human voice when speaking, than with a 

 musical instrument, or with the human voice 

 when singing." The truth of this observation 

 must strike any person who will pay close 



