Bird song is not even a metaphor: it is a catachresis, like when we talk about the "teeth" of a saw or the "legs" of a table. But is not even that. It is more like the word phrase or meter, words used for two separate but analogous things, without one being a metaphor for the other. That is: we view the teeth of a saw as a metaphorical extension of animal or human teeth to something else, but with bird song, this is not a metaphorical extension of human song, but song itself.
The bright red of the male cardinal. The female cardinal is attracted to it, and we like it too. In other words, we appreciate the beauty of something that already has a functional beauty of its own.
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