An analysis of the foregoing table shews that the Blackbird has been selected as the type of the quality of mellowness of voice, the Wren for sprightliness, and the Nightingale for plaintiveness-the last, of course, carrying off the palm in compass and execution. For strength of voice the Merulidæ are all remarkable; the loudest, perhaps, being the Missel Thrush, though the Lark nearly approaches him in this particular. In this table the birds are arranged according to their families, but the sum-total of the figures appended to each bird will give the following scale of superiority in song: of 15 Tree-pipit 36 Tree-sparrow In order still further to exhibit the comparative powers our British birds, and at the same time to arrange their numerous notes in something like an orderly series, the following system is offered, which shows the type to which each song-bird belongs, and locates each bird in an ascending series, according to such type, beginning with those whose notes are least numerous and varied, and gradually rising to the most powerful and accomplished vocalists. First-Birds which possess but a single note or call. The greater number of birds, by very far, as I have before observed, come under this category, and therefore, however much this call may be varied in tone, they are necessarily excluded from the rank of singing birds. Secondly-The first approach to song occurs when this single note is repeated several times without an interval, constituting a prolonged call, as I will designate it, as in the case of 1 Wryneck, 4 Swift, 5 Wood-warbler 6 Grasshopper Lark, &c. Thirdly-The next advance is when, instead of á single note, the bird is capable of producing two notes, which Barrington designates the varied call. Such birds are the 3 Common Bunting, &c. 1 Cuckoo, 2 Chiff-chaff, According to that part of Barrington's definition, which I am willing to accept, we now arrive at true singing birds, having three or more notes. These may be arranged as follows:Fourthly-Birds which sing short passages, which they repeat frequently, but from time to time vary, A. with an interval between each repetition, as 1 Missel Thrush, 2 Golden Oriole, B. without such interval, 1 Blue Tit, 2 Great Tit, 3 Blackbird. 3 Song-thrush. Fifthly-Birds which have a definite number of notes. This includes all the poorer song-birds, which have but few notes, as well as some of the better class. These birds sing their song round, and then repeat it, singing nearly the same notes each time; so that when the observer has once mastered the passage, he cannot well be deceived in the bird; such are 1 Tree-sparrow, 2 Creeper, 3 Reed-bunting, 4 Cirl-bunting, 7 Wheatear, 8 Whinchat, 9 Hedge-sparrow, 10 Redstart, 11 Greenfinch, 12 Wren, 13 Willow-wren, And Sixthly and lastly, are those birds which possess an indefinite number of notes, so that no two passages are precisely alike, and the observer judges more by the quality of the tone than by the identity of the passages. This class includes the greater number of our true singing birds, and may conveniently be divided into two groups, viz:— A. Those whose song is uttered in what the bird-catchers call jerks, that is, passages more or less brief, but always varied, and separated by an interval; such as 1 Redbreast, 2 Whitethroat, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Nightingale. B. Those whose song is long sustained, without any rest or interval, as— 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Starling, 3 Goldfinch, 4 Swallow, 5 Sedge Warbler, 6 Reed Warbler, 7 Linnet, 8 Garden Warbler, 9 Wood-lark, 10 Sky-lark. Our indigenous birds appear, some of them at least, to be capable of singing nearly the whole year, excepting only during the moulting season, and this is certainly an argument against the sexual cause of song. The Robin, the Wren, the Starling, &c., may be heard through the frost and snow of January, although it is quite true that they improve greatly in their qualities of voice during the breeding season. Other birds gradually take up their song as the spring advances. The Missel and Song Thrush also usually sing in January. In the course of February, the Chaffinch, Hedgesparrow, Lark, Greenfinch, Goldcrest, &c., gradually chime in. The Blackbird is rarely heard till March, when he is accompanied by the Linnet and Goldfinch. The month of April, however, brings with it a great accession of song, on account of the arrival of the exotic songsters which make our spring woods so vocal. These arriving, one after another, from the first week in April till the first week in May, very rapidly swell the chorus. Both indigenous and exotic songsters are, indeed, early in May, in full song-a marked improvement in tone and execution being observable even among those we have been accustomed to hear already for several months past. Thus, the Redbreast's note becomes full and sonorous, often rivalling the wild note of the Blackcap in some of its passages. The warble of the Chaffinch becomes more liquid, and an accession of power is generally noticeable. After the beginning of June, however, this climax begins to show symptoms of a decline: one by one, birds' voices are missed, or the rich tones deteriorate, and this process going on through June and July, it at length becomes the exception to hear a bird's song, instead of the rule; till at length, in August, a dead silence reigns in the woods and fields, and the birds are then as dumb as they are musical in May. Whether this gradually increasing vocal power be due to a corresponding increase of pliability in the larynx, induced by practice, or to some correlative periodical change in the constitution of the bird, I cannot now enquire. Probably both causes are concerned, for we must take the analogous phenomenon of the decrease and disuse of song into consideration in any such enquiry. Another question, too, presents itself, viz., what is the condition of migrating birds as to song, when they arrive among us? I think there can be little doubt that their vocal organs have previously reached their full pitch of power at that time, for several reasons. First. They remain with us, in song, for so short a period (about six weeks) that time is scarcely allowed for any very great change; nor do we notice any in fact, the summer birds of passage being in good voice from the time they arrive till the time when their song begins to deteriorate. Second. A careful observer will almost as soon learn by the ear as by the eye the arrival of summer birds, which announce their advent by their characteristic notes. I say almost, because it has several times occurred to me to see the bird only on one day, and to hear him on the next, and this under such circumstances as to leave no doubt that the fatigue of their journey only prevented them singing. On one occasion, in Kent, early in April, watching for the Willow-wren, not the slightest trace of which I had yet seen or heard, I espied one, which, while under my observation, uttered a mangled note, more like a recording note in autumn, and which I should scarcely have recognized. This was the only indication I had of the bird's arrival; but next day every tree-top resounded with the incessant warble of the species. A similar remark I have made with regard to the Redstart. Thirdly, judging from analogy, we arrive at the same conclusion, for our winter birds of passage, which quit us in the spring, sometimes favour us with an audience before leaving. After the period of silence, which marks the month of August, we often hear many species resume their song, but in a manner very far inferior to that of the spring months. The notes strike upon the ear like those of long absent friends, and as it always occurs to me, like those of friends just risen from a bed of sickness. Instead of the round, full, careless song of spring, we hear weak, vacillating and imperfect notes, which tell either of a loss of power, or of a newly commencing accomplishment. I certainly incline to the opinion expressed by White, and corroborated by the Rev. L. Jenyns, that these autumnal songsters are young cocks of the year. Without stopping to ask why the old birds should attempt to do that which they have not power to execute, it is to be borne in mind that this recommencement takes place at a time when we should look for the first indications of song in the young birds; at a time, that is, when they are fully fledged, and |