74 



SONG OF BIRDS. 



'Tis love creates their melody, and all 

 This waste of music is the voice of love ; 



Hence the glossy kind 

 Try ev'ry winning way inventive love 

 Can dictate, and in courtship to their mates, 

 Pour forth their little souls. 



THOMSON. 



MUCH has been written respecting the song of 

 birds, some attributing it to one cause, and some 

 to another. The following interesting and au- 

 thentic anecdote may, perhaps, throw some light 

 on the subject. 



A gentleman of my acquaintance had an Ameri- 

 can Mocking-bird, in such health and vigour, that 

 it was either constantly singing, or else imitating 

 the various sounds it heard. In order to try the 

 powers of this bird, its owner purchased a fine 

 sky-lark. When placed in the same room with 

 the mocking-bird, the song of the former was 

 heard to echo through the house, as if it were 

 chaunting " on fluttering wing " its well known 

 welcome to the rising sun. The mocking-bird 

 was silent for some time, but at last burst forth in 

 the strains of the " aerial songster/ 5 but louder 

 and clearer, as if mounting and stretching its 

 wings towards heaven. The lark was silent from 



