100 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
in miicli-loved England. Their song is too sweet to be of 
long continuance. At the first dawn of day it commences, 
and gradually heightens as the light increases; but no 
sooner does the sun appear, gilding the hills with his bright 
beams, than the performers, one after another, retire, and 
all the lovely sounds die away into profound silence ; or, if 
the silence be broken, it is only by the shrill note of some 
unmusical bird, who dared not to appear till his more me- 
lodious companions had retired into the woods, either to pre- 
pare for or to take care of their young, and to repose after 
the exertions of the morning"^.^^ 
The song of birds seems to be much influenced by the 
season of love ; and yet, as Mr. Hepburn remarks, it does 
not entirely depend on that season, as many birds sing in 
the autumn and winter, as well as in the spring and summer. 
His remarks on the time our native song-birds commence 
their morning lays are as follows : — In the beginning of 
July, at about half-past one o^ clock, up springs the skylark 
to greet the coming morn ; at two the swallow ^twitters from 
his straw-built shed / soon the mellow-toned blackbird and 
thrilling thrush call up the grove ; the robin redbreast takes 
up the burden of the song, and the wren, as he bustles from 
* Rev. W. Yates Accouat of New Zealand, p. 52. 
