The Birds' Calendar 



Spirit of the mountains; there is a wild and 

 melancholy picturesqueness in the reminiscent 

 water-fowl ; but neither the grandeur of the 

 one, nor the poetry of the other, can elicit that 

 personal, affectionate regard that springs up for 

 a creature that can translate its heart into song. 

 What a hold the familiar song-birds of every 

 country have upon the people ! And commonly 

 they are among the most plainly dressed of 

 their kind. The song sparrow, the purple finch, 

 the robin, the thrush, in our own country ; the 

 wren, the chaffinch, and the skylark, in Eu- 

 rope ; who would think of naming these among 

 the feathered "beauties," yet who would not 

 gladly sacrifice any of the merely ornamental 

 species for such as these ? Only heart speaks 

 to heart, and the world in the end is swayed 

 neither by fine manners nor by fine looks. 



Apart from the more subtle influence upon 

 the mind wrought by these audible and visible 

 impressions of nature, there comes a refinement 

 of hearing, in the discrimination of tones and 

 the unravelling of cadences ; a delicacy of vis- 

 ion, in the minute distinctions of action, form, 

 and color ; an education of eye and ear, in it- 

 self pleasurable, and enlarging one's capacity 

 for enjoyment. 



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