264 VOICES OF BIRDS. 



convey, which no contrivance of art could supply ; 

 and, by long association, they have become identi- 

 fied with the period, and in peculiar accordance 

 with the time. 



We have a rural sound here daily to be heard, 

 and perhaps it is a local one ; it may be noticed by 

 many passing or residing, and yet the larger portion 

 be ignorant of its object, which must be my apology 

 for introducing it. Servants on the farm are usu- 

 ally called home, or to their meals, by the sounding 

 of a horn, a loud shout, a bell, and other expe- 

 dients ; but when females only are left in the house, 

 and a horn cannot be sounded, no sufficient shout 

 given, and the wind obscure the ring of the bell, 

 and so no notice be conveyed, we have here a 

 practice that is fully answerable to the end : the 

 dairy-maid lifts up her milk-pail, and, by beating 

 it with a stick, obtains so loud a sound, that it has 

 often surprised me by the distances at which I have 

 heard it equal, perhaps, to the noise of a drum. 

 The keen ears of a hungry man readily distin- 

 guish this domestic tattoo, always a practicable, 

 and a competent mode of indicating the dinner 

 hour. 



We note birds in general more from their voices 

 than their plumage ; for the carols of spring may 

 be heard involuntarily, but to observe the form and 

 decoration of these creatures requires an attention 

 not always given. Yet we have some native birds 

 beautifully and conspicuously feathered ; the gold- 

 finch, the chaffinch, the wagtails, are all eminently 



