I am always surprised and rather dismayed whenever I hear my fellows disparage the vocal production of our avian cousins. Do you not know, I want to say, that many birds – from the nightingale to the song sparrow – are consummate musicians? The Lyrebird, that clears a patch of forest floor, prepares his stage on which to sing and dance. Is this not an artist, in the most complete sense? Birdsong is indeed music, a spontaneous expression of how a particular bird experiences and feels the world. So much so that some birds have been known to sing with such intensity and passion that their little hearts have burst in the very e ecstasy of the transport – as if their poor frames could not contain the overwhelming spiritual force of the music. [Sam Ben-Meir]