r66 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OP 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. M^'lien 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 rendereil 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 
ratber 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 Buffbn 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 “ thin air. It is very true, that as the 
autumn, in our northern climates, advances, the woods 
* Griffith’s Cuvier. 
