LANGUAGE. 185 
whose blood, being mixed together, would produce 
a serpent of such virtue, that any one who ate of 
it should understand whatever was said by birds 
when they conversed together. This story is allu- 
ded to by Addison in one of his Spectators. 
It were to be wished that all fables in natural his- 
tory were as obvious to an ordinary reader as this; 
for we meet with others in books wearing the air 
of well-ascertained facts, which could only originate 
in the fancy of the writers. This is exemplified in 
the story told of the butcher-bird (Lanius excubitor), 
which is said to imitate the voices of other birds, 
by way of decoying them within his reach, that he 
may devour them; ‘excepting this,” it is added, 
“his natural note is the same throughout all sea- 
sons: when kept in a cage, even when he seems 
perfectly contented, he is always mute.”* We ven- 
ture to say, however, that nobody will ever be able 
to authenticate this statement, for the organs of the 
bird, were there no other obstacle, seem altogether 
incapable of the variety of modulation which the 
habit imputed to it would require, though, like most, 
if not all other birds, this species can express more 
than one sort of feeling. 
CHAPTER XV. 
SONGS OF BIRDS. 
Tue songs of birds have given rise to several cu- 
rious inquiries of no small interest to naturalists, 
some of which it may prove both amusing and in- 
structive to detail. We may, however, begin by 
* Anim. Biog., ii., 219. 
Q2 
