Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/488

418 are musical are unable to distinguish different songs as readily as those who are not. I feel convinced that it is one of those things which is possible for anyone to learn with patience and close observation. We notice the same ignorance with regard to the appreciation of the beauty in the form of a bird. But can we wonder at this when even artists, whose powers one would think were altogether trained to appreciate that which is beautiful in form of every description, fail to appreciate that which is beautiful in a bird? That one has to be educated to beauty we know; but the same beauty of form, which for generations has been worshipped in the perfect human body, is to be found amongst all creatures in nature by those who seek for it. And yet I feel tempted to say that a naturalist without these two gifts—namely, the understanding of their language, and the appreciation of their form, which undoubtedly they understand amongst themselves as readily as their language—cannot be called a naturalist in the highest sense of the word. But I am digressing.

What are the causes of this variation of song? Is it due to some cause local or temporary, or does it depend on some general law which governs the whole animal kingdom? We naturally turn our thoughts to the human language and the human voice, and it appears to me that we have here somewhat of an analogous case. It is, I think, an admitted fact that dialect is due to climatic influence, and, again, that a damp or wet climate has the effect of relaxing the vocal chords, and thereby lowering the pitch. Does this apply to birds? Dialect perhaps expresses this variation better than arrangement. I noticed in Sark that the song and call notes of certain species were uniformly lower than in the county of Worcestershire. Among the most striking were the call notes of the Blackbird and Chaffinch, and the songs of the Great Tit and Wren. This phenomenon I had previously noticed in the west of Donegal, and having occasion to be there shortly afterwards, I made special observations on this point, and found the same thing in the Blackbird, Chaffinch, and Wren; and in addition amongst the following species: Corn-Bunting, Yellow Bunting, Sedge-Warbler, Whitethroat, Swallow, Blue Tit, and Coal-Tit. It has always been late in July when I have been there, otherwise I have no doubt I should have found it to be the general rule amongst many classes of birds.