518 Remarks on Wood's British Song Birds. 



chirping sparrow amongst the birds of song : but I should 

 imagine he will obtain but few converts. The joyous hilarity 

 of spirit which appears to incite the rapid melodious lay of 

 this bird in his upward course will never fail to excite ad- 

 miration, and a reciprocal feeling of joy, in the bosom of the 

 most "ordinary" (a favourite term of the author) of listeners. 

 A child, who cannot be supposed to be influenced by associ- 

 ations, will listen with delight to the melody of the lark, which 

 appears to shed a beam of happiness on his heart, as he ear- 

 nestly gazes on the quivering wings that bear the bird higher 

 and higher in the air above his head. 



With respect to our author's observations on the caging of 

 skylarks, on account of their upward flight, I would only 

 observe, that, as he has no objection to " caging most of the 

 individuals included in the warbler and finch families " (and 

 it is well known that the individuals of the first-named family 

 have an instinctive desire to leave this country when their 

 peculiar food is no longer to be found here), his tender feel- 

 ings towards the skylarks must be rather strained. It is surely 

 as cruel to cage a bird that takes an extensive flight in mi- 

 grating to a foreign country, as it is to preserve in confine- 

 ment one that remains here the whole year. But, however 

 we may sympathise with the caged skylark in being deprived 

 of its freedom, yet I think it more desirable that the hard- 

 working artisan and citizen should be familiar with the melody 

 with which a beneficent Creator has endowed the birds of the 

 air, than that the author's prejudice should prevail, in a city 

 at all events. The skylark, with care and attention, as the 

 author acknowledges, will sing as blithely, or nearly so, when 

 in a cage, as in the open country, and will soon become con- 

 tented with its lot. 



It has been the custom of Mr. N. Wood to rob many poor 

 birds of their eggs ; in some instances to replace them by 

 others of a different bird, and in others to place in the nest 

 small stones, about the size of the eggs removed, covered with 

 coloured paper, as an experiment on the natural sense of the 

 bird. In some instances the author has succeeded in deceiv- 

 ing the bird, who has thus been made to expend its care and 

 attention on the offspring of another ; but, in others, the bird 

 has been driven from its nest by the intrusion of the curious 

 naturalist. Perhaps this might have been avoided, if the 

 author had put in practice his favourite study of phrenology, 

 and examined the bird's skull before he meddled with its 

 teeming eggs. It is a high offence for a child to rob a bird 

 of its eggs ; but, when a naturalist does the same thing, the 

 offence is overlooked. In the account of the woodlark, the 



