196 HABITS OF BIRDS. 
ced by St. Kevin during the building of the Seven 
Churches, because they broke the morning sleep 
of the wearied masons by their loud matin war- 
blings. 
In opposition to the popular notion founded on 
the theoretical reasoning of Buffon, M. Vaillant re- 
marks, ‘It is quite a prejudice that the birds of 
warm climates are more brilliant than ours; witness 
our kingfisher and jay; or that they do not sing; 
for the song-birds, both in Africa and America, 
equal, and often surpass, our European birds. The 
traveller, Bruce also tells us that the song of the 
lark in Abyssinia did not appear to differ from that 
of the European larks ; and M. Savigny, as we have 
already mentioned, heard the white-throat singing 
in Egypt. All the Oriental poets, indeed, introduce 
the music of the groves as an indispensable accom- 
paniment in their finest descriptions. King Solo- 
mon says, “‘ The time of the singing of birds is come, 
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;” and 
the naturalist, Haselquist, found nightingales in 
Palestine, as M. Le Marie had done in Africa. The 
Persian poet Hafiz, also, as well as the author of the 
“ Ramayuna,” and the Hindoo dramatist who wrote 
“‘ Sacontala,” are loud in their praises of the music 
of birds, while in the Koran and the Arabian Tales 
they are often mentioned. 
In speaking of the wood-thrush (Turdus melodus) 
of America, Wilson indignantly repels the assertions 
of Buffon, who represents this bird as destitute of 
any note but a single scream, and hence draws an 
argument for his absurd theory of its being the song- 
thrush of Europe, degenerated by food and climate, 
so that its cry is now harsh and unpleasant, as are, 
he says, the cries of all birds that live in wild coun- 
tries, inhabited by savages. Wilson’s description 
of the song of this bird is well wort) giving. ‘This 
sweet and solitary songster,” he says, “inhabits the 
whole of North America, from Hudson’s Bay to the 
