Birds. 



6713 



fefafeg 



rrs st\ 



ie- 





O 



The first bar is rapid, and often repeated, a merle-like stave ; the 

 second I intend to represent the flute-like notes which remind me of 

 the solitaire ; but flute-like is, I feel, an expression very unsuggestive 

 of the reality. It occurred to me, as I listened to it yesterday, that 

 perhaps the vibrating tones which can be produced on a glass with 

 water in it is something like it, but it is quite indescribable : there is a 

 fulness, a mellowness, a deep tone and feeling, — a consciousness of 

 life, about this voice of the forest, — that no mere instrument can imi- 

 tate. You will see, by the little score I have given, they are ex- 

 ceedingly fond of the interval a fifth. The accented crotchets in the 

 second bar are followed by still longer notes of the same quality. 

 Sometimes there is a pause before the fifth is taken, with, to me, an 

 extraordinary effect. At others the interval of a fifth or sixth is taken 

 (as well as I can judge), after a run of two or three rapid notes. No 

 sweet sound of the forest I know of is more beautiful than this. The 

 deep gloomy recesses in which it is heard, the influence on sound of 

 the shrouded gorges and rocks, the swell of the breeze which plays 

 far over head, unfelt below, combine to make this 'sweetness long 

 drawn out' one of the most deeply impressive of the voices of nature. 

 Often, as I have returned home from following it, the jocund lay of 

 the nightingale [mocking-bird], from a guava close to the house (for, 

 notwithstanding Dr. Robinson's assertion, this lonely mountain resi- 

 dence has its full complement, three or four pairs at least), with its odd 

 interludes of imitation, has seemed a downright shallow warble com- 

 pared with its rival of the woods. But perhaps we should not attempt 

 such comparisons; each is perfect in its way. I cannot help sus- 

 pecting, however, that some of the notes supplied you for the solitaire 

 may apply to this bird ; for they once or twice attributed this song to 

 a thrush. I have before remarked that hereabouts at the forest-edge, 

 or deep within, the song is constant; it may be heard on the road 

 which communicates between us and the lowlands, from some 

 dark valley close by, or a towering precipice crowned with wood. 

 The place 1 chose for my search was a bit of forest where they abound, 

 some way within its boundaries, but where the track crosses the sum- 

 mit of a hill, so as to have the ground as level as possible. I have no 

 negro on whose intelligence I could rely, so was obliged to undertake 

 XVII. 3 F 



