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-bi*ds, 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 

 " Rarnayuna," 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 melodas) 

 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 worth giving. " This 

 sweet and solitary songster," he says, " inhabits the 

 whole of North America, from Hudson's Bay to the 



