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THE SONG OF
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THE See also:SONG OF BIRDS The characteristic modulated See also:voice of birds is the outstanding example of natural " song " in the See also:animal See also:world. The essential requirements of a vocal See also:organ, the pressure of vibratory membranes or chord, are found in the See also:bird's See also:syrinx (see BIRD), but how these membranes See also:act in particular, and how their tension is modified by the often numerous syringeal muscles, we do not know. The voice of birds is produced entirely by the syrinx; the larynx no doubt modifies it, but the See also:tongue seems to See also:play no See also:part in it. The " loosening of the tongue " by cutting its frenum; in See also:order to assist a bird in talking &c., is an absolutely See also:silly operation. The See also:possession of the most elaborate syrinx is not enough to enable a bird to sing. In this respect they are like ourselves: See also:special See also:mental faculties are required to See also:control the apparatus. Anatomically the See also:raven has the same elaborate syrinx as the See also:thrush or the See also:nightingale, and yet the raven cannot " sing " although it can modulate its voice and can even learn to talk. As a See also:rule the See also:faculty of singing is restricted to the See also:males, although the See also:females possess the same See also:organs; moreover, birds vary individually. Some learn to sing marvellously well, while others remain tyros in spite of the best See also:education. But given all the necessary mental faculties, birds sing only when they are in such a healthy See also:condition that there is a surplus of See also:energy. This, of course, is greatest during the See also:time of See also:propagation, when much of the surplus of the See also:general See also:metabolism comes out—to use homely words—in unwonted functions, such as dancing, posing, spreading of feathers and giving voice. Every one of these See also:muscular exertions is a spasm, releasing some energy, and—again in homely parlance—relieving the mind. In many cases these antics and other manifestations become rhythmical, and See also:music consists of rhythmical sounds. Of course birds, like other creatures, are to a certain extent reflex See also:machines, and they often sing because they cannot help it, just as male frogs continue to croak See also:long after the pairing See also:season, and not necessarily because they or their mates appreciate those sounds. But birds stand mentally on such a high level that we can scarcely doubt that in many cases they enjoy, and therefore sing their song. Many a tame bird, a See also:canary, See also:starling, See also:magpie, will repay its keeper with its song, out of season, for any kindness shown to it, or for his See also:mere presence. If we regard any See also:sound made by a bird under the all-powerful See also:influence of love or lust as its " song," then probably every bird is possessed of this faculty, but in the See also:ordinary See also:acceptance of the See also:term very few, besides the oscines, can sing, and even this See also:group contains many which, like the ravens and the crows,are decidedly not songsters. On the other See also:hand, it seems unfair not to See also:call the charming See also:series of notes of the See also:dove its song. D. See also:Barrington in a very remarkable See also:paper (" Experiments and Observations on the Singing of Birds," Phil. Trans., 1773, pp. 249–291) defines a bird's song " to be a See also:succession of three or more different notes, which are continued without interruption during the same See also:interval with a musical See also:bar of four crotchets in an See also:adagio See also:movement, or whilst a pendulum swings four seconds." The See also:late A. See also:Newton (Ency. Brit., 9th ed., iii. 771; see also Did. Birds, s.v. " Song," pp. 892–894), taking a much wider view of " song," proceeds as follows: " It seems impossible to draw any but an arbitrary See also:line between the deep booming of the See also:emeu, the harsh cry of the See also:guillemot (which, when proceeding from a See also:hundred or a thousand throats, strikes the distant See also:ear in a confused murmur like the roar of a tumultuous See also:crowd), the plaintive wail of the See also:plover, the melodious See also:whistle of the See also:wigeon, ` the See also:cock's shrill clarion,' the scream of the See also:eagle, the hoot of the See also:owl, the See also:solemn See also:chime of the See also:bell-bird, the See also:whip-cracking of the See also:manakin, the See also:chaffinch's joyous burst, or the hoarse croak of the raven, on the one hand, and the bleating of the See also:snipe or the drumming of the ruffled See also:grouse, on the other. Innumerable are the forms which such utterances take. In many birds the sounds are due to a See also:combination of vocal and instrumental See also:powers, or, as in the cases last mentioned, to the latter only. But, however produced—and of the machinery whereby they are accomplished there is not See also:room here to speak—all have the same cause and the same effect. The former has been already indicated, and the latter is its consummation. Almost coinstantaneously with the hatching of the nightingale's brood the song of the sire is hushed, and the notes to which we have for See also:weeks hearkened with rapt admiration are changed to a guttural croak, expressive of alarm and anxiety, inspiring a sentiment of the most opposite See also:character. No greater contrast can be imagined, and no instance can be cited which more completely points out the purpose which ` song' fulfils in the See also:economy of the bird, for if the nightingale's See also:nest at this See also:early time be destroyed or its contents removed, the cock speedily recovers his voice, and his favourite haunts again resound to his bewitching strains. For them his See also:mate is content again to undergo the wearisome See also:round of nest-See also:building and See also:incubation. But should some days elapse before disaster befalls their callow care, his constitution under-goes a See also:change and no second See also:attempt to See also:rear a See also:family is made. It would seem as though a mild temperature, and the abundance of See also:food by which it is generally accompanied, prompt the physiological alteration which inspires the males of most birds to indulge in the ` song ' See also:peculiar to them. Thus after the See also:annual See also:moult is accomplished, and this is believed,to be the most See also:critical See also:epoch in the See also:life of any bird, cock thrushes, skylarks, and others begin to sing, not indeed with the jubilant voice of See also:spring but in an uncertain See also:cadence which is quickly silenced by the supervention of See also:cold See also:weather. Yet some birds we have which, except during the season of moult, hard See also:frost, and time of See also:snow, sing almost all the See also:year round. Of these the See also:redbreast and the See also:wren are See also:familiar examples, and the chiffchaff repeats its two-noted cry, almost to weariness, during the whole See also:period of its See also:residence in this See also:country. " Akin to the ` song of birds,' and undoubtedly proceeding from the same cause, are the peculiar. gestures which the males of many perform under the influence of the approaching season of pairing, but these again are far too numerous here to describe with particularity. It must suffice to mention a few cases. The See also:ruff on his hillock in a See also:marsh holds a See also:war-See also:dance. The snipe and some of his See also:allies See also:mount aloft and wildly execute unlooked-for evolutions almost in the clouds. The See also:woodcock and many of the goatsuckers See also:beat evening after evening the same aerial path with its sudden and See also:sharp turnings. The See also:ring-dove rises above the neighbouring trees and then with motionless wings slides down to the leafy See also:retreat they afford. The See also:capercally and See also:blackcock, perched on a commanding See also:eminence, throw themselves into postures that defy the skill of the caricaturist—other See also:species of the grouse-tribe assume the strangest attitudes and run in circles till the See also:turf is worn See also:bare. The See also:peacock in See also:pride spreads his See also:train so as to show how nearly akin are the majestic and the ludicrous. The See also:bower-bird, not content with its own splendour, builds an See also:arcade„ decked with See also:bright feathers and shining shells, through and around which he paces with his See also:gay companions. The larks and pipits never deliver their song so well as when seeking the upper See also:air. Rooks rise one after the other to a See also:great height and, turning on their back, wantonly precipitate themselves many yards towards the ground, while the solemn raven does not scorn a similar feat, and, with the tenderest of croaks, glides supinely alongside or in front of his mate." The following may be cited as the See also:principal See also:treatises on the subject, besides Barrington's paper quoted above: J. Blackwall, Mein. Litt. Phil. See also:Soc., See also:Manchester (1824), pp. 289–323; also in Froriep's Notizen (1825), See also:col. 292–298; F. Savart, Memoir sur la voix See also:des oiseaux, Froriep's Notizen (1826), col. 1–10; C. L. Brehm, Naumannia (1855), pp. 54–59, 96-1OI, 181–195; and Journ. f. Ornith. (1855, pp. 348–351; 1.1856, pp. 250–255) ; C. Gloger, Journ. f. Ornith. (1859), pp. 439–459; J. E. Harting, Birds of See also:Middlesex (See also:London, 1866), where the notes of many of the See also:common See also:English birds are musically expressed; J. A. See also:Allen, See also:Bull. Comp. Zobl. Harvard (1871), ii. 166–450; L. Paolucci, Il See also:Canto degli uccelli (See also:Milan, 1878), and Milano soc. ital. atti. 20 (1877), pp. 125–247; C. L. Hett, A See also:Dictionary of Bird Notes (See also:Brigg, 1898) ; C. A. Witchell, Bird-Song and its Scientific Teaching (See also:Gloucester, 1892) ; F. S. See also:Mathews, See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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