Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-10-24
TWO FICTIONS.
The Skylark and the Nightingale In
Literature and in Fact.

4
LUoERNE, SWITZERLAND, Sept Il.
The skylark and the nightingale. as gener-
| ally accepted by mankind, are fctions. This
may easily be learned at FIRST hand, for both
| birds are common in their haunts and widely
distributed in Europe. 1t may also be learned
from the testimony OF more than one Euro
pean naturalist. Yet, even in Europe, the hc-
tons appear to be much better known than the
| birds themselves
The skylark Of fiction, 1t may be we'll to
state, is youngster of surprising ability, whose
habitual station while singing is at point
| sufficiently above the earth's surface to render
him invisible TO the naked eye. His music
descends as il from heaven itself, challenging
the admiration Of the densest clodhopper and
| lifting the cultured soul to dizzy heights of
sentiment
The real skylark has. indeed, the habit Of
singing on the wing, and doubtless he some
times mounts high enough to become invisible.
There il good evidence to that effect; but he
certainly prefers to be within easy optical
range. Though do not myself profess to have
acquired perfect familiarity with his habits,
have studied him in many parts Of Europe
l have watched him patiently. sympathetically,
hopefully, for hours at time, and never have
known him to reach an altitude at which he
could not be seen plainly by any normal eye.
More than this. he delights to sing upon the
SEouuo. very O1ten, mue6u, Wnen q careless
| listener, having In nina the lark Of fiction, be-
lieves him to be out Of sight in the sky he is to
be found in some favorits spot a-perch.
The lark possesses a voice of mediocre quail
| ity, and produces song far inferior to those
of many other birds. At best his music is
| canary-like. at worst it is positively insectie.
Distance does not enhance its effect. On the
contrary, the farther away the singing bird
the harsher and shriler his performance.
But let me do the lark justice. He is one Of
the most CHEEKY and indefatigable of bird
singers Be it fair or foul. be it sultry or chill,
his stridulous notes may be heard from morn
ing till night in the season. ! have seen him
exulting over snow-covered fields in Switzer-
land-when June had suddenly produced
day with the characteristics of December-as
heartily and persistently as il he had looked
down upon the greenest meadows and the gay
est flowers. Such thorough. going optimism hes
charm of its own; and one listens to the lark
with approval and pleasure, in spite Of his
musical deficiencies.
Need it be said that the nightingale of fc-
ton is the incompatible songster, who through
all the hours Of daylight turks perdu, silent,
melancholy, but in the depths OF night tran
scends Imagination with his melody. On the
morning of May was walking in the park Of
Vincennes, with an eye to the birds. Not far
from the old chateau l was brought to a stop
by a loud thrush-like song, which came from q
| thicket at distance of half dozen PAGES
did not know the song, and / drew my field
glass OUT OF us case ana TOOK up q POSITION De-
hind the nearest tree In the hope of identify
ing the musician. His strain was at once re-
peated. L noted that it was quite complicated,
and that it was delivered with much boldness
and decision but II did not impress mo as be-
ing Of unusual excellence. Yet q moment
later, as the singer descended to the ground
just before me to secure a tidbit that had
caught his eye, l discovered that had been
listening to nightingale. The bird saw me at
the same instant, and, with short, cultural
note OF alarm, disappeared in his thicket.
waited attendance upon his pleasure for some
time afterward, but in vain; he neither showed
himself again nor favored me with another song
l walked many kilometers about Vincennes
that day and found several other nightin-
gales within it's boundaries, all of them moro
or less tuneful no one of them the accom-
plished singer was prepared to hear. Two
days later had a similar experience at st. Cloud
But told myself that must hear the bird at
Di1h before / should be competent to pass
Judgment upon his abilities, and on the 7th of
May went out from Paris to the Forest of st.
German en- Lave to that end
1t was fine morning and a hot one upon
which l entered the forest. At high noon,
when first heard the song of Daulias luscinia,
the local thermometers must have indicated
temperature of about 80 degrees in the shade
Nevertheless the same first song was one of the
best have ever heard produced by any nightin-
gale under any circumstances-a really delight
full outpouring, riyaling in its ardor the love
songs of the bobolink and the purple finch It
was AN admirable performance, but it was not
by any means a matchess one. felt that it
was richly worth hearing again. 1t was not re-
peated however. And during the next four
hours and half, though j tramped about per-
sistently, heard only occasional distant and
fragmentary songs by the nightingale. l
began to feel at last that the Forest of st.
German might not stand high in his favor,
But toward o'clock in the afternoon,
az was taking moments rest by the side of
shady alice, was saluted by tentative
song close at hand. 1t arose from n
thicket which had carefully explored a quar-
ter of an hour before without seeing feather
or hearing a call-note. After a short pause 1t
rose again, louder and at greater length. An
answer came from a sapling on my right, so
near that its Sudden ringing out fairly startled
me. For few moments thereafter the even
ing chorus of the woods con inued without an
audible note from tho nightingale. Then q
bird in the woods behind me supplied the miss
ing tones. His strain was not complete before
the first singer began again. and within ten
minutes from that time the three were singing
almost continuously. SO continuous, indeed,
were their songs, and SO loud and long, that,
added to those OF other wood BIRDS they rem
dered it difficult for me to form an opinion of
the nightingale's numbers farther away. Occa-
sionalIy, however, during a lull in the music,
could hear parts OF more distant strains,
which gained to q marked extent by their re-
moteness.
The attempt has often been made to indicate
by syllabication the character Of the night
ingale's song, but never with success Inc
judice. He executes rapidly, audaciously
and with such frequent variation OF theme
that a listener must be clover indeed to outline
In the crudest manner any one OF his longer
airs; and no arrangement of syllables, however
accurate, can convey idea OF the peculiar
clarionet-llke richness of the birds voice. 1t
might be the voice of an oriole, or
of hooking thrush-perhaps OF q
wagtail (Seiurus); some OF its tones are
reproduced at times by our common cardinal
1t lacks pathos and sweetness. The
songs of the hermit thrush, the grass finch, the
uby-crowned kinglet and the winter wren
to seek no further-haye these qualities in a
far higher degree than the nightingaIe's In
fact. it is only in the variety OF his musical
productions that he excels at oil. He is singer
of many words and many methods of express
sion. Perhaps it is on this account that he sell
dom renders any one Of his ariss superlatively
well and often seems to be merely extempor-
iZing. There is always, to be sure, one Of q
few characteristic themes present in his music
but SO embellished, according to the caprice of
the moment, that the popular saying, THE
nightingale never repeats himself, may be
! said to be founded at least upon fact.
| For nearly three hours l sat under the ire es
| of st. German and there diminution i'll
| the number and ardor Of the songs about me-
/ But az ten minutes to o'clock l noticed that
| the chorus was neither SO loud nor SO sustained
| as before and that tho nightlngales were not
more persistent than their fellow performers.
| Soon but one OF them was singing at a time.
| few minutes more and there were intervals dur
L II. -