Introduction 
9 
tlie other. But if the purpose of nature in continuing the race 
is not accomplished the bloom lingers.” In the last sentence 
Mudie reveals his point of view—he regards the song as sexual; 
but he is wrong when he says the bloom is shed when the pur¬ 
pose of nature (or what he assumes to be the purpose of 
nature) is accomplished: song in birds extends before and 
beyond the breeding season; in some birds, like the thrush, it 
is interrupted only by the moult. ]N' o doubt it is finer during 
the breeding season, but then it does but augment with the 
general flowering of that season. Again, judging by the human 
analogy, when the purpose of nature is met by accomplishment, 
the bloom lingers longer than when the purpose is denied, the 
natural use of the natural functions reacting on and per¬ 
meating the rest of the being beneficently. 
It is supposed that caged birds sing for a far longer period than 
they do in nature, not because their surroundings are more 
conducive to song, but because the functions that called the 
song into being have not been fulfilled. Mudie contends that 
no caged bird sings with the full power and freedom of the 
woodland song. Bolton, on the contrary, asserts (BH, vol. 2, 
pp. 28-29) that “in its wild state the nightingale sings only 
during some ten weeks of the year; but in confinement will con¬ 
tinue its song for nine or ten months; and a caged nightingale 
sings with infinitely more sweetness than those abroad.’ 7 In 
this “sweetness” Mudie recognizes “a blending of the cry of 
irritation and distress.” The two writers hear different 
qualities in the same song, each no doubt influenced by his own 
feelings. 
A consideration of the period at which the song of various, 
birds is at its perfection makes it evident that there is a 
mingling of various emotions in that passion of melody. The 
song of the nightingale continues day and night through the 
period of incubation, but ceases almost immediately on the 
hatching of the brood, when the sweet notes degenerate to a 
guttural croak. If, however, when the song has thus ebbed 
away, the nest be destroyed or its contents removed, the lost 
voice is speedily recovered, and the song is heard once more 
