LESSER WHITETHROAT. 
1J7 
our mind. “ It is, perhaps, too much,” he remarks, “ to 
say that we have borrowed all our music from birds ; but 
some of it is evidently a plagiarism.” We are disposed to 
go further than the admission of Rennie on this subject, 
since in birds we find the only natural musical language. 
In music they express all their joys, and hopes, and fears. 
The melody uttered by some of them is enchanting: the 
variety without end. What can surpass the stately recita¬ 
tive of the blackbird ? whose song, when heard in distant 
woods, sounds like the warning voice of one of the old pro¬ 
phets, preaching repentance to a heedless world. Or who can 
sing a hymn of praise equal to that poured forth by every lark 
that rises on the wing. 
The vocabulary of some birds is also of considerable extent, 
especially during the early months of the year, and may by 
an attentive observer be heard to increase in extent as the 
season advances. They continue to acquire new notes as far 
as the month of May, at which time all birds are in the 
height of their song. From this time their vocal powers 
diminish, even before they cease to sing. Some appear to 
leave off abruptly, without the apparent causes usually 
assigned. At the present time of writing, the 80th of May, 
Ave have scarcely heard, for some days, the song of a night¬ 
ingale which has its nest in our garden, although, contrary 
to the usual belief that this bird continues in full song 
during the whole time that the hen sits, the nest has 
not been completed a week, and two days ago only the fifth 
egg was laid. We now hear the male bird very rarely, 
scarcely one stanza in a day, and in the night he is wholly 
silent. Instead of the incessant song of nightingales, black¬ 
caps, larger and lesser wdiitethroats, thrushes, etc., which 
have alternately been heard, for the last month, during every 
hoiir of the day and night, nothing is now to be heard but 
the occasional chant of the blackbird, the monotonous song 
