﻿166 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



and a solitary rambler. That this is the chief reason of 

 the great development of the voice in birds, will be 

 further manifested by looking to the Mycetes, or howl- 

 ing monkeys of Brazil. The Brazilian hunters assert 

 that those whose voices are the most powerful are soli- 

 tary^ and that they do not live, like the other monkeys, in 

 troops. When in quest of their mates, they ascend one 

 of the lofty trees of the forest, and from thence send 

 forth those hideous howls, which can be heard at a dis- 

 tance of near a mile. This cry is always made after 

 sunset ; so that, although we frequently heard it, the 

 nature of the trackless and almost impenetrable forests 

 where these monkeys reside rendered it dangerous, if not 

 impossible, to verify this account by personal observa- 

 tion. There is strong analogy, however, in support of 

 the fact ; for, as neither sight or smell would at all serve 

 this quadruped for the accomplishment of the alleged 

 object, the powers of voice have been wonderfully in- 

 creased, precisely upon the principle that it is highly 

 developed in the generality of birds. 



(142.) The musical intonation of the voice in birds 

 does not appear connected with any function absolutely 

 necessary (as in the last case) to its well-being, but is 

 rather a faculty given them to increase their enjoyment 

 and happiness. There can be no doubt, as we shall 

 presently see, that this faculty is intimately connected 

 with that of love, in the season of incubation ; but the sen- 

 sibility and the sentimentality of BufFon and his lively 

 countrymen is carried too far, when they assert that 

 the song of birds is nothing but the expression of love, 

 and that after the time of incubation the woods are in 

 general silent.* It is really time that the historians of 

 nature, at least, should throw aside these and similar 

 fictions, which have either been long refuted, or which 

 the slightest knowledge of the subject is sufficient to 

 dispel into u thin air." It is very true, that as the 

 autumn, in our northern climates, advances, the woods 



* Griffith's Cuvier. 



