all seasons: when kept in a cage, even when he seems perfectly contented, he is always mute*." We venture to say, however, that nobody will ever be able to authenticate this statement, for the organs of the bird, were there no other obstacle, seem altogether incapable of the variety of modulation which the habit imputed to it would require, though, like most, if not all other birds, this species can express more than one sort of feeling. Father Kircher, who attended minutely to this curious subject, has expressed the various notes of poultry by musical characters of which the following is a copy.

Cock's notes.

Cu-cu-li-cu,

Hen after laying.

Cu-cu- li-cu,

Cu-cu-li-cu.

To to to to to to to to to to to to to to to

to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to

Hen calling her chickens.

Glo glo glo glo glo glo glo glo glo glo.
*Anim. Biog. ii. 219.

Call of the Quail.

Bi-ke-bik,

Bike - bik, Bi-ke-bik*.

M. Vaillant has also noted in a similar manner the peculiar calls of many of the birds which he observed in Southern Africa.

*Kircher's Musurgia, i.

CHAPTER XV.

SONGS OF BIRDS.

THE Songs of birds have given rise to several curious inquiries of no small interest to naturalists, some of which it may prove both amusing and instructive to detail. We may, however, begin by stating, that, after investigating the subject with considerable attention for many years, we have come to the conclusion that the notes of birds which are denominated singing, may all be referred to hilarity and joy, or to rivalry and defiance, rather than to imitation or to love, as has been maintained by some naturalists of celebrity. Mr. Pennant gives the following view of the matter:

"It may be worthy," he says, " of observation, that the female of no species of birds ever sings; with birds it is the reverse of what occurs in human kind: among the feathered tribe, all the cares of life fall to the lot of the tender sex: theirs is the fatigue of incubation; and the principal share in nursing the helpless brood: to alleviate these fatigues, and to support her under them, nature hath given to the male the song, with all the little blandishments and soothing arts; these he fondly exerts (even after courtship) on some spray contiguous to the nest, during the time his mate is performing her parental duties. To these we may add a few particulars, that fell within our notice during our inquiries among the bird-catchers, such as, that they immediately kill

No tool had he that wrought; no knife to cut,
No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert,

No glue to join: his little beak was all:

And yet how neatly finish'd! What nice hand,
With every implement and means of art,
Could compass such another?”

marked in birds reared from the nest, that the females will record, as it is termed, the first rehearsal (inexpertum carmen, as Statius gives it in his 'Sylvæ,') warbling in the low preluding manner peculiar to all birds some time before coming into full song. This was particularly the case with the green-birds just mentioned, and one female green-bird will at present record in a similar manner, while her brother of the same age begins to sing in good earnest*.

Mr. Sweet, the well-known botanical writer, and author of the British Warblers,' says that "females seldom sing: I had a female red-start, which sang a little; and female bulfinches sing as frequently as the males." Again, Mr. Sweet says, "I have had several female birds, which never attempted to sing ; but now I have two that sing frequently; one is a female black-cap; she sings a note peculiar to herself, and not the least like the male, or any other bird with which I am acquainted. I kept her several years before she began to sing. I have also a female willow-wren, that sings nearly as much as the cock; this bird was bred up from the nest, and did not sing at all the first year. Her note is quite different from that of the male, but resembles it sufficiently to indicate that it belongs to the same species t." "In nightingales," says M. Montbeillard, "as in other species, there are females which enjoy some prerogatives of the male, and particularly participate of his song. I saw a female of that sort which was tame; her warble resembled that of the male, yet neither so full nor so varied; she retained it until spring, when resuming the character of the sex, she exchanged it for the occupation of building her nest and laying her eggs, though she had no mate. It + Magazine of Nat. Hist. i. 346.

* J. R.