314 
LIFE, IN ITS HIGHER FORMS. 
trill forth on moonlight nights, making the woods to ring 
again. We have listened enraptured to the united melody 
of dozens of these birds together, in the orange-groves of 
Jamaica, during those beautiful nights when a tropical 
moon looks down from the vertical sky in dazzling lustre, 
when the air is cooled by the fresh land-breeze from the 
mountains, and thousands of fire-flies are sailing in and 
out at the dark edges of the woods, like living sparks of 
fire. Then the birds, each taking his stand on the topmost 
twig of an orange or lime-tree, pour forth, one after 
another, their gushing songs, now one answering his fellow, 
now all singing together as if eager to drown each other’s 
voice; now one alone is heard for a few moments, then 
the others rush anew into the contest, which is often 
maintained till after midnight. 
The song of Birds is closely connected with the repro- 
duction of the race. There are a few species, it is true, 
as the Redbreast, that protract their melody into autumn, 
and even into winter ; but the grand chorus of the woods 
and fields comes in and goes out with spring. It is the 
male, almost exclusively, that is the performer; lie begins 
to sing his love-song as he woos his mate, while the hedges 
are yet leafless; he sings blithely in the intervals of his 
labour, as he assists to build the nest; and he sings almost 
without intermission from morning till night, to cheer his 
spouse in her patient duty of incubation. As soon as the 
parental duties cease, we hear little more of “ the voice of 
the bird.” 
And thus we are introduced to that miracle of instinct, 
the Bird’s nest ; which must, however, be the special sub- 
ject of another chapter. 
