Is the sense of beauty unique to man, or does he share it with other living creatures? Whatever else needs to be taken into account in considering this profound question, one aspect of nature ought not to be overlooked, and that is the singing of birds. For there is clearer evidence that birds have something like our sense of the beauty of sounds than there is for a similar community of aesthetic sensibility between us and any other branch of the animal kingdom. Let us first ask, Why do birds sing? The most important reason can be given in one word: territory. ...