SON 
(be blow pipe ; and according to Vauque- 
lin, it is composed of 
Aluniina 49 
Silica 46 
Lime : 3 
Oxide of iron 1 
"is 
Loss 2 
too 
SONCHUS, in botany, sow~thistle, a 
genus of the Syngenesia Polygainia jEqualis 
class and order. Natural order of Compo- 
sitae Semifloscnlosa>. Cichoraceas, Jussieu. 
Essential chaiacter : calyx imbricate, ven- 
tricose ; down hairy ; receptacle naked. 
There are nineteen species. 
SONG, in poetry, a little composition, 
consisting of easy and natural verses, set to 
a tune in order to be sung. 
Song nf birds. The song of birds Las 
been defined to be a succession of three or 
four different notes, which are continued 
■without interruption through the same in- 
tervals, in a bar of tour, crotchets, adagio, or 
while a pendulum swings four seconds. It 
is observed, that notes in birds are no more 
innate than language in man, and that they 
depend entirely on the master under which 
they are bred, as fiir as their organs will 
enable them to imitate the sounds which 
they have frequent opportunities of hearing; 
and their adhering so steadily, even in a 
wild state, to the same song, is entirely 
owing to the nestlings attending only to the 
instruction of the parent-bird, whilst they 
disregard the notes of all others that may 
perhaps be singing round them. Birds in a 
wild state do not commonly sing more than 
six or seven months out of the twelve ; but 
birds that are caged and have plenty of food 
sing the greatest part of the year ; and we 
may add, that the female of no species of 
birds ever sings. It has been remarked, 
that there is no instance of any bird singing 
whose size exceeds that of our blackbird ; 
and this is supposed to arise from the dif- 
ficulty it would have of concealing itself, 
did it call the attention of its enemies, not 
only by its bulk, but by the proportionable 
lomhiess of its notes. It has been noticed 
by some writers, that certain passages of the 
song in a few kinds of birds correspond with 
the intervals of onr scale, of which indeed 
the cuckoo affords a striking and well 
known mstance ; but much the greater part 
of such song is not capable of musical nota- 
tii))) ; part'y because the rapidity is often so 
soo 
great, and it is also so uncertain when they 
may stop, that we cannot reduce the pas- 
sages to the form of any musical bar what- 
soever ; partly also because the pitch of 
most birds is considerably higher than that 
of the shrillest notes of our highest instru- 
ments ; and principally because the. inter- 
vals used by birds are commonly so minute, 
and consequently so different from the 
more gross intervals into which we divide 
our octave, that we cannot judge of then*. 
Most people, who have not attended (o the 
notes of birds, suppose that all those of the 
same species sing exactly the same notes 
and passages, which is by no means true, 
though it must be admitted that there is a 
general resemblance. Thus the London 
bird-catchers prefer the song of the Kentish 
goldfinches, and Essex chaffinches; but 
some of the nightingale-fanciers prefer a 
Surry bird to one of Middlesex. The 
nightingale has been almost universally 
esteemed the most capital of singing birds ; 
and its superiority chiefly consists in the fol- 
lowing particulars : its tone is much more 
mellow than that of any other bird, though 
by the exertion of its powers it can be ex- 
tremely brilliant. Another point of supe- 
riority is its continuance of song without a 
pause, which is often extended to twenty- 
seconds. 
Song, in music, is applied in general to a( 
single piece of music, whether contrived for 
the voice or an instrument. A song has 
been compared to an oration ; for as, in this 
latter, there is a subject, viz. some person 
or thing the discourse is referred to, and 
which is always to be kept in view through 
the whole ; so, in every regular and melo- 
dious song, there is one note which regulates 
the rest ; wherein the song begins, and at 
last ends'; and which is, as it were^ the 
principal matter, or musical subject, to be 
regarded in the whole course of the song ; 
and this principal or fundamental note is 
called the key of the song. 
SONNERATIA, in botany, so named in 
memory of Mons. Sonnerat, a genus of the 
Icosandria Monogynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Hesperidese. Myrti, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character : calyx six-cleft ; 
petals six, lanceolate ; berry many-celled, 
with several seeds in each cell. There is 
but one species, cis. S. acida, a native of the 
Molucca islands, and the bogs of New 
Guinea ; also of Cochin China, on the banks 
of rivers. 
SOOT, a volatile matter, arising from 
wood, and other fuel, along with the 
