148

THE THRUSH, THE BLACKBIRD, THE NIGHTINGALE.

tender and even somewhat melancholy strain. It sings sometimes in the air, sometimes on the top of a tree. When singing in the air it is frequently seen flying in large, irregular circles. The woodlark sings late in the evening, so as sometimes to be mistaken for the nightingale. The female woodlark, like the female of larks in general, is not destitute of song; but all that it can reach is a few strophes much interrupted.

The thrush has a clear and beautiful song. On the tops of the highest trees it welcomes the approach of spring, and sings throughout the whole summer, especially in the morning dawn and the evening twilight. It is kept in a cage by bird-fanciers, whence often on a morning, even as early as February, it will delight a whole street by its pleasing song, outside the window, or even inside, provided the window be a little open. The thrush in its wild state is fond of bathing. In September and October they are often caught at the places where they water, before sunrise and after sunset, and even so late that they cannot be seen, but are only heard. At the time of bathing they have a peculiar call-note. When a thrush finds water, or when it is flying towards a known watering place, it pipes loudly sik, sik, sik, sik, siki, tsak, tsak ! and immediately all the thrushes in the neighbourhood reply, and come on.

The blackbird has a song rich in melody, containing some deep notes, like those of the nightingale, yet varied with some which are unpleasantly harsh. When at liberty it sings from March to July, particularly at night. In the cage it sings throughout the whole year, except at moulting time. Its note is pure, distinct, and clear. It has a good memory, and will learn several airs or melodies without confusing them. It is even able to imitate words.

The nightingale by the fineness of its voice surpasses every other bird. The variety and peculiarity of its tones express its varying emotions. When the male is alone, its most significant note is the pipe-note witt. But if the harsh syllable, krr, be added, it forms the call of the male to the female. To express anger or fear the note witt is repeated with great loudness and rapidity before the termination krr is added. When happy and contented the nightingale utters a deep tack. Under the excitement of anger, jealousy, or alarm, the nightingale utters an unpleasant shrieking tone, which resembles the cry of the jay. When they sport and chase each other, which they frequently do in pairing time, they utter a very short chirping sound. Such notes belong to both sexes; but the power and the brilliancy of his song distinguishes the male. His vocal organ is of striking power; the muscles of his throat are more robust than those of any other singing bird. Besides the strength of his voice, the nightingale is remarkable for the force, the agreeable transitions, and the beautiful harmony of his song. Commencing softly, he warbles for a moment a succession of low melancholy notes, which gradually increase in strength, and at last die away upon the ear. A variety of sharp notes follows, and then are uttered numerous hurried sharp notes, intermingled with some detached ascending notes, with which he generally closes his strain. In the song of a fine nightingale, without reference to slighter variations, there are at least four-andtwenty different strains.

Among the sparrow and finch tribes there are many much prized singing birds.

The bullfinch has naturally a harsh, creaking tone, but young birds learn all kinds of songs, airs, and melodies. If it be desired that a bullfinch should sing perfectly, it ought never to be taught more than one melody, in addition to the fanfare, which is always added by way of surplus.

The chaffinch has a variety of notes expressive of its wants and desires. There is one delicate note, expressed treef, treef, by which it appears to remark a change of

THE LINNET, THE GOLDFINCH, THE CANARY.

149

temperature. The call-note, which it uses chiefly on its migration, is a repeated yack, yack. A spontaneous sound appears to be fink, fink, which it reiterates, and from which perhaps the root of its name is derived. More remarkable than these notes is its clear and trilling song; as approaching more to distinct articulation, it is termed a quaver. Each bird has one, two, three, and often as many as four different songs, each of which lasts a couple of seconds, and consists of several strophes. Those who desire a particular account of the different songs of the chaffinch, may consult "Chamber Birds," by Bechstein, translated from the German by Mr. Shuckard, London, 1848.

The linnet has a very remarkable. loud, and flute-like song, consisting of many connected strophes, which is the more beautiful the oftener it utters some high-sounding notes, which are termed its crowing, from the resemblance to the crowing of a cock. From its natural flute-like voice, this bird surpasses all others in its capacity for imitating melodies in a beautiful and pure style. A young linnet taught by a nightingale has an exceedingly pleasing song.

The goldfinch has a shrill, agreeable song, heard during all seasons, except at the period of moulting. It contains many warbling and twittering notes, on which it dwells more or less, and the oftener the syllable fink is repeated the more it is admired. Some birds utter these notes only once or twice in their song, while others give them forth four or five times in succession. The goldfinch does not acquire the song of other birds with so much ease as the linnet and the canary.

The canary is distinguished by correctness of ear, by the remarkable skill it possesses of imitating all tones, and by an excellent memory. While canaries imitate the notes of other birds, they mix them with their own, so as greatly to improve the song. In different countries canaries exhibit a different character of melody. Those birds which intermix in their melodies several strophes of the song of the nightingale, are called Tyrolese canaries. The English canaries, on the contrary, imitate the song of the lark.

Even birds of prey often exhibit no small extent of voice. The kestrel has a belllike ringing voice, kli, kli, kli, which he often repeats in rapid succession. The white owl utters a plaintive cry, which by the superstitious has been regarded as a sign of death. The raven has a hoarse croak resembling the syllable crock or cruck, but it also utters a note not unlike the sound of a sudden gulp, or the syllable cluck, which it seems to utter when in a sportive mood. The rooks have a considerable variety of sounds. Their chief cry resembles the syllable khraa, more or less harsh or soft according to occasion. There is great diversity in the voice of individuals, the notes of some being much louder and clearer than those of others. Their cries, separately, are monotonous and disagreeable; yet when at some distance, and uttered by a large flock, they become by no means unpleasant. Mr. M'Gillivray describes the sounds proceeding from a rookery at night as consisting of a variety of soft, clear, modulated notes, very unlike their usual cry. He regarded these sounds as expressive of affection, and was persuaded that the mothers were fondling and coaxing the newly-hatched young.

The jackdaw is extremely clamorous, with a loud and clear note, resembling the syllable kae or caw, variously modulated. The noise produced by a large flock, though in no degree musical, is far from being disagreeable. The jay can even learn to speak, uttering, however, nothing but solitary words. They may be taught also the fanfare of a trumpet, and other melodies of single bars, as well as little airs and the notes of many birds. The magpie imitates all striking sounds, and can be taught to speak more

150

THE CROAKING OF FROGS.

easily than any other of the crow tribe. The cry of the cuckoo is universally welcome as the harbinger of spring. His principal sound is nothing but hu-hu or coo-coo, repeated at short intervals; when attention is given, however, it is found that these two loud and mellow notes are preceded by a kind of churring or chuckling sound, which consists of a low and guttural inflexion of the voice, during which the throat seems distended.

The parrot tribe are most remarkable for their power of imitating human speech. The cockatoo shrieks its own name, cockatoo, and calls loudly, in a trumpet-like tone, derdeny. The cries of all animals it acquires, particularly those of the domestic cock and hen. It rarely, however, acquires the power of articulating words. There are numerous species of cockatoo parrots having much the same character of voice. Among the commonest of the parrot tribe in Europe is the ash-coloured parrot. This parrot readily learns to speak, and to pipe. It has not the unpleasant wild shriek of some of the parrot tribe. It takes no small delight in imitating the voice of children; hence children are its best instructors. If its education be begun early, it will sometimes acquire entire verses, and even axioms.

The gray woodpecker has a note which resembles a loud shout of laughter, whence some of its popular names are derived; this note is never varied, except by its more clamorous repetition during the spring and early summer months, and by the peculiar cry, plui, plui, plui, which has been supposed to indicate the approach of rain. The wryneck in spring frequently and loudly utters gigigigi, which is the call whereby he attracts his mate. The nuthatch utters a loud call, which may be heard at a considerable distance, resembling grew, deck, deck. The ring-dove, or cushat, has a loud and particularly pleasing cooing, during which he makes very grotesque motions, which may be backwards and forwards, or from side to side, moving the head in every direction. The turtle dove has a peculiar cry, and bows his head while it is uttered.

Voice of Reptiles.-The sounds uttered by reptiles and amphibious animals have their source in the larynx, like the voice of mammals. In frogs, as well as in the crocodile, there are vocal cords. In the crocodile the larynx, though more simple than in mammals, still retains something of the same character. There is one large, longshaped cartilage, to which are attached two movable cartilages. The mucous membrane descending from these movable cartilages into a deep pouch beneath, leaves a free fold on each side, which, when the movable cartilages approximate, becomes a vocal cord. In the gecko and the chameleon the vocal cords are more developed than in the crocodile, nevertheless they are formed on the same plan. The lizard has an acute, chirping voice, which has been supposed to depend on a peculiar membranous fold attached to the larynx, but it really seems to depend on a vibration of the margins of the glottis. In the turtle tribe there are no vocal cords, nor is their larynx adapted to a perfect intonation of the breath.

In the true serpents there are no vocal cords; the hissing sound which constitutes their imperfect voice is a mere forcible breathing. In the male frog membranous sacs at the side of the neck become distended in the utterance of the voice, and serve to increase its intensity. In the Rana pipa, in which the larynx, as in all other frogs, receives the bronchi directly, without the intervention of a windpipe, there is a large cartilaginous box, within which are two solid reed-like bodies, nearly as long as the larynx itself. The anterior extremities of these bodies are fixed; their posterior extremity is free, and projects on each side towards the opening of the bronchus. The vocal sound is produced by the vibrations of reed-shaped tongues, which act like a tuning-fork;

while in other animals of the same class the parts which produce the sound are membranous. If a small piece of cartilage, a few lines in length, be fixed by one end, and a current of air be thrown from a small tube upon its edge at the other extremity, a humming sound is heard. In the Rana pipa, also, the movable cartilages are convex externally, and concave internally; so that when the entrance to the larynx is closed, they form a dome over the windpipe, which has been compared to a kettledrum. In the Rana temporaria, R. esculenta and R. hyla, the larynx opens into two sacs on either side of the lower jaw, and these, during the cry of the animal, are filled with air.

Sounds produced by Fishes.-A very few fishes are known to utter sounds, such as the trigla, cottus, pogonias.

The trigla utters a grunting sound when it is taken out of the water. It has been supposed that the peculiar muscle of the air-bladder in these animals has a share in causing the sound. The cottus, however, from which a sound is heard to proceed when pressure is made upon its body, has no air-bladder. The pogonias, on account of the sounds which it produces, has been named the tambour. These fishes produce continued sounds under the water. The air-bladder is very large, and is covered by strong muscles; further, it has appendages, which, according to Cuvier, pass between the ribs, and become embedded in the muscles.

RANA TEMPORARIA (COM-
MON FROG)-Bishop.
a, tongue; b, hyoid bone;
c, superior vocal cords;
d, inferior vocal cords;
e, pharynx; f, right
bronchus.

Sounds produced by Insects.-Most insects are mute; others produce sounds merely by friction; others, again, by the passage of air through their spiracles. The sounds produced by friction come under the head of stridulation; those produced by air from the spiracles, purring or humming. In the orthoptera, and some of the coleoptera, there are parts adapted to produce stridulation.

In the cricket the muscular apparatus may be described as consisting of a serrated string like a file, which in the movement of the wings is drawn rapidly over a firm, transparent, and nearly triangular disc, or sounding-plate, surrounded by a string, and by this act the sound is produced. The pitch of the sound of the house-cricket is very acute, being equivalent to about 4096 vibrations in a second.

The cicada, termed sometimes the "chanteuses," or singers, are so called because the males produce, in the hottest part of the day, a kind of monotonous and noisy music :

"Et cantu querulæ rumpent arbusta cicada."-VIRG.

The music of the grasshopper has from early times attracted attention. Archias sung of it, and his verse has been thus translated from the Greek :

"Erst on the fir's green blooming branch, O grasshopper! 'twas thine

To sit-or on the shady spray of the dusky, tufted pine;

And from thy hollow, well-winged sides to sound the blythesome strain,
Sweeter than music of the lyre to the simple shepherd swain."

Those, too, who loved these "living lyres in the olive groves sounding all the summer long," have celebrated the locust :

"Soother of loves, encourager of sleep,

O locust! mystic muse, shrill wing'd;"

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And the cicada,

THE BLUE-BOTTLE-THE HUMBLE BEE.

"Cicada! thou, who, tipsy with the dews

Of weeping skies, on the tall poplar tree
Perch'd swayingly, thyself dost still amuse,

And the hush'd grove, with thy sweet minstrelsy."

Melanger, alluding to the buzzing of insects, says, "Excute facundas pedibus titubantibus alas" :

"Striking thine own speaking wings with thy feet;"

but their real organs of sound are placed on the side of the base of the abdomen, internal, and covered by a cartilaginous plate, like a shutter, which is an appendage of

(Musca vomitoria).

the under side of the meta-thorax or posterior thorax. The cavity which incloses these instruments is divided into two partitions by a scaly and triangular edge. Seen from the under side of the body, each cell exhibits anteriorly a white and folded membrane, and in the hollow part a stretched out, slender membrane, called the mirror. If this part of the body be opened from above on each side, there is seen another folded membrane, which is moved by a very powerful muscle, composed of a great number of straight and parallel fibres, extending from the scaly ridge; this membrane is called the timbale. The muscles, by contracting and relaxing them out or bringing them into their

with quickness, act upon the timbales, stretching natural state, whereby the sounds are produced, and which, even after the death of the

animal, may be repeated by moving

the parts over each other in the manner they act whilst alive. The cicada occur chiefly in warmer countries of the world. One species, the Cicada Anglica, the only English species, is found in the New Forest.

John

It is a common belief that the buzzing of insects is produced by the oscillations of their wings during flight. This idea has been often called in question. Hunter found that insects emitted sounds after their wings were cut off. More recently it has been stated that the sounds produced by many insects are the effect of a rapid transmission of air through the thoracic air-holes as they dash through space. Mr. Bishop has observed a peculiar mechanism for this purpose in the blue-bottle fly and humble bee. The annexed figures show one of the large thoracic spiracles in each of these insects, the Musca vomitoria and the Bombus terrestris.