The singing of birds has been the subject of hu- man song since earliest times. They have always been our companions in garden and field, and the effortless elaborate power of the sound emanat- ing from such a tiny creature has drawn our im- agination. We like to imagine that birds sing the way we do, expressing joy, grief, tenderness, or even greed in the case of Ivor R Davies’ raven; but in fact not only are the mechanics of their song different - they produce sound with a stretched membrane, the syrinx - but the reasons for their song are also not apparently aligned with ours most of their song serves to mark territory or - attract a mate. So when we put the voice of love ,or despair into the beaks of our feathered friends it is purely a reflection of ourselves. Here then is a brief survey of the ‘throes’ of the human heart - as Robert Bridges’ nightingales describe them - .heard by human ears in the voices of birds