THE SETTING- DOWN OF BIRDS' SONGS.
LTO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." J
SIR,—In your article on the songs of the birds in last week's Spectator I was surprised to find so little reference to the thrush among the other birds as one whose sayings are so clear and articulate. Of all the birds one bears, be is the one who expresses most; in the case of localities where there are many, one can make a vocabulary of his own words and sentences. The variety of his songs is great, but each year he seems to adopt a set of phrases which, interspersed with other forms, recur over and over again till he can be recognised by his sayings without mistake. The same bird seems to repeat himself from year to year, but to bring a new set of words with him, though he sometimes gives an old form of song with modifications. There is no doubt that the thrush is one of the most courageous performers in the orchestra. To hear him singing on the top of a fir-tree in a dense fog in November and delivering his song with spirit and execution is a sound to enhearten the gloomiest listener.—
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