Lowell, again, is nearer the truth when he speaks of his "whiff of song." All his notes are call-notes, and are addressed directly to his mate. The songbirds take up a position and lift up their voices and sing. It is a deliberate musical performance, as much so as that of Nilsson or Patti. The bluebird, however, never strikes an attitude and sings for the mere song's sake. But the poets are perhaps to be allowed this latitude, only their pages lose rather than gain by it. Nothing is so welcome in this field as characteristic touches, a word or a phrase that fits this case and no other. If the bluebird chants a hymn, what does the wood thrush do? Yet the bluebird's note is more pleasing than most bird- songs; if it could be reproduced in color, it would be the hue of the purest sky.
Longfellow makes the swallow sing:—
"The darting swallows soar and sing;"—
which would leave him no room to describe the lark, if the lark had been about. Bryant comes nearer the mark this time:—
"There are notes of joy from the
hang-bird and wren,
And the gossip of swallows through all
the sky;"
so does Tennyson when he makes his swallow
"Cheep and twitter twenty million
loves;"
also Lowell again in this line:—
"The thin-winged swallow skating on
the air;"
and Virgil:—