THE VOICE. 
43 
and insist upon the fact that the males alone are gifted 
with the power of song, the females never. The poor 
creatures try, it is true, sometimes to sing a bar or two, 
yet it never amounts to a song, and always remains a 
bungle. The wee hen-bird, though her little bosom may 
be bursting with poetic love-thoughts, can only impart 
them to her lover and the world, in simple, but tender, 
tones. It is of the male bird only, that we can say he 
composes poetry; for it is thought alone, out-spoken in 
song, which can be called poetry, although the assiduous 
labours of the female to build the home and rear the 
callow brood may appear to many more poetical than the 
slight contribution of song to the work. Just as much as 
the female is surpassed in bodily beauty by the male, as 
little can she rival him in the gift of poetry; and this is 
a clear indication of the elevation man occupies in 
comparison with birds; for with him, from time 
immemorial up to the present day, the female sex has, 
as all know, always been called “the fair or fairer,” and 
is in no way inferior to the male sex in powers of com¬ 
position, as the treasures of modern poetry can testify. 
The gift of song varies greatly in different birds. Each 
species has its characteristic tones and definite compass 
of voice; each blends the individual notes in a peculiar 
manner into strophes, and the strophes, again, into the 
whole melodies. From this arises natural song, which 
may, however, be rendered very differently, according to 
the talent of the performer. Some species sing their own 
melodies, and those alone; others, combine therewith 
many strophes belonging to others; moreover, in the 
first case, the song always differs in different localities. 
An expert will immediately recognise any singing-bird 
from its note, without seeing the creature itself, with as 
