182 k] iMr. Prior on the Emphyment and AssociafAon of Birds. 



sons who never indulge in the softer 

 impnlses of rcdcction, are ready to 

 call me a ' bird-fancier,' one who has 

 more sympathy tiian sense. 'J'his I 

 <len)^ But I reprobate habitual cru- 

 elty in my fellow-creatures, for the 

 want of duly considering the use and 

 abuse wiiich ' lordly man' exercises 

 to the feathered race. 



To see a man six feet high leaning 

 over a bridge with a rod and line, 

 twelve hours successively, and merely 

 get a 'glorious nibble,' is no enviable 

 sight to me, more than to behold ano- 

 ther man riding his horse to death, to 

 drive a hare to its last home. If Hog- 

 ging can be justified in the catalogue of 

 our laws for crimes, I think a few 

 lashes for the angler, the horse-racer, 

 the animal-hunter, and the voluntary 

 self-defence follower, might render the 

 pursuit less frequent and less ob- 

 noxious. Mr. Martin may be laughed 

 at by the cruel for his regard for the 

 brute creation, imd Mrs. Fry receive 

 the unmerited disapprobation of recre- 

 ants for her desire to reform the 

 vicious. The accumulation of crime, 

 and the immoral example of fashion, 

 call for the virtuous to exert their 

 energies in ameliorating those who 

 have neither courage nor condition to 

 ameliorate themselves. But these 

 subjects require more elucidation than 

 I intend in tiiis paper to propose. My 

 tli(;ine is with birds, not with beasts or 

 lishcs.* Every lover of Milton's puri- 

 Jicd muse must recollect his ardent 

 expressions of birds, especially the 

 nightingale, his 'sweetbird !' Chaucer, 

 his predecessor, rehearsed many of his 

 best pieces to the ' small fowl,' and 

 the 'assembly of fowls,' to the birds 

 that sleep ^^ itii ' open eye,' to the 

 ' cuckoos,' the ' falcons,' and the ' mer- 

 lins.' Dryden was enamoured of the 



bag. An inquisitive eeiitleman of llic vil- 

 lage wislied to join them, and they per- 

 Miuded him to carry a crindstoiie upon liis 

 .shoulder, to .sharpen the clapper, if iicces- 

 gary. 'I'liis he bore most palieiilly tliroiigh 

 bog and ylfn, in darkness and peril, till 

 tliey all rctinncd lionic again witii twenty 

 •liizen of tifhlfares, laii^jhin^ niosl heartily 

 at Ills unsuspecting crcdnlity. 'i'iiis fact 

 is worthy uf preservation with the legends 

 of Coirgirshail and Gotham's wise men. 



• I'he ancients, heathens, Giet ks, and 

 I'omans, revered birds, inasmiieli as they 

 Ihonciit them ominous of life, death, pios- 

 perity, victory, aiiviisity, and vajiquibh- 

 uiLUi.—yide tivcir llialviy. 



'clianliclecr' in Cliaucer, and 'the 

 lark that at heaven's gate sings.' 

 Drayton paints the colours of the 

 ' peacock,' and addresses the 'plovers, 

 and tlirushes,' in many lovelorn 

 plaints. Covvper loved birds, and 

 employed his eloquent humanity ia 

 their behalf. R!rs. Earbauld has writ- 

 ten petitions for ' robins.' Keatcs 

 ■wrote a sonnet in a wood forthe birds 

 that had been robbed. Kerriek and 

 Marvell rehearsed 't!ic loves of birds.* 

 Cowley used to admit a bird into his 

 grol, atChertscy, for humiile pittance. 

 Watts tamed a sparrow at the top of 

 Lady Abney's house, where he stu- 

 died. Elijah was fed by ravens. 

 Bloomfield has spoken very prettily of 

 birds in his delightful * Farmer's Boy.' 

 Shakspeare alludes continually to 

 birds in his works. Not a valentine is 

 ofl'ered at Cupid's shrine without the 

 auspices of ' the feathered clioir,' 

 'the warbling quire,' and 'the song- 

 sters of the grove.' Many authors, it 

 is true, have ridiculed the chirping of 

 sparrows on the house top : tliey have 

 threatened them with vengeance, and 

 destroyed them with powder and shot. 

 I am quite otherwise. I do fiinily be- 

 lieve birds are worshippers of nature 

 and heaven. I believe they watt their 

 offerings to the skies continually. I 

 believe their wakening meetings at 

 sunrise are spent in gratitude. 1 be- 

 lieve the voices which they tune 

 are consecrated to divinity. Methinks 

 1 hear a sluggard complain that he 

 hates the noise; that he is awoke too 

 soon; that he cannot slumber again: 

 1 am otherwise. Twenty birds, at 

 least, meet of a morning in a tree 

 before my bed-room window. Their 

 regular devotion awakes my heart and 

 inspires my love to join in their early 

 praise. VVhen an hour has elapsed, 

 tlicse birds separate to their several 

 avocations. Their instinct guides them 

 to food and industrious habits. ' Birds 

 in their little nests agree,' says Watls. 

 Washington Irving has shown, in his 

 ''J'ales of the Hall,' at the 'rookery,' 

 M hat birds can do, and how tenacious 

 they arc of propriety and decorum in 

 all their household discipline. 'J'rces 

 are the birds' |)aradise, yet they are 

 siicial. Birds are fond of nien natu- 

 rally, but not the instruments of 

 <leeeit;they dread men because of the 

 engines of destruction. Yet birds in 

 populous places seem aware that men 

 cannot be their destroycis, by their 



pert 



