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 excuUtor), 

 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. 



THE 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 



