ON THE SONGS OF BIRDS. 67 



ations and fine weather, at almost every season of the year. 

 The state of the atmosphere has unquestionably a great 

 effect on Birds : they rarely sing in very boisterous, very 

 wet, or very cold weather. Yet some of them will occa- 

 sionally sing even during wet weather ; many of the Thrush 

 tribe do so. Mr. Bowles, in his beautiful Sonnet to Time, 

 has the following simile : 



"As some lone Bird at day's departing hour, 

 Sings in the sun-beam of the transient shower, 

 Forgetful, though its wings be wet the while." 



The Lark, alauda arvensis, sings too, occasionally, while 

 it continues solitary, for many months of the year. As 

 most Birds sing only during fair weather, we are warranted 

 in the conclusion that their songs are the effect of pleasura- 

 ble sensations. The Missel bird is, however, said to sing 

 during a storm, hence it is sometimes called the Storm Cock', 

 but the term storm should, I suspect, be interpreted rain : 

 its singing in tempestuous storm is greatly to be. doubted. 



The Wood Thrush, the Turdus Melodus of Wilson, a 

 native of North America, sings also in moist and gloomy 

 weather ; it is said, indeed, that the sadder the day the 

 sweeter its song ; our own singing Thrush is also frequently 

 heard in wet weather ; and, in the spring, many other Birds 

 during the transient shower, as Mr. Bowles has stated. 



It may be observed too, that Birds, while gregarious, 

 in tbis country at least, rarely, if ever, sing in their natural 

 state, although we often hear them singing in numbers in the 

 Bird shops of the metropolis at the period when their fellow 

 Larks, for instance, are associated in flocks in our fields : a 

 proof how much their habits may be altered by domestica- 

 tion. 



It being a fact, that Birds sing chiefly during the spring ; 

 it appears also that, in this season, they sing best during the 



