328 ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. 



"The chaffinch raises with all his energy his clear and sonorous 

 note ; the robin sings from the summit of the larch, the goldfinch 

 amid the alder-groves, the blackbird and the bullfinch beneath the 

 leafy arbours. The tomtit, the wren, and the troglodyte mingle their 

 voices. The stockdove coos, and the woodpecker smites his tree. 

 But far above these joyous utterances re-echo the melodious strains of 

 the woodlark and the inimitable song of the thrash." 



Page 185. Migrations. For the famished Arab, the lank in- 

 habitant of the desert, the arrival of the migrating birds, weary and 

 heavy at this season, and, therefore, easy to catch, is a blessing from 

 God, a celestial manna. The Bible tells us of the raptures of the 

 Israelites, when, during their wanderings in Arabia Petrsea, fasting 

 and enfeebled, they suddenly saw descending upon them the winged 

 food : not the locusts of abstemious Elias, not the bread with which 

 the raven nourished his bowels, but the quail heavy with fat, delicious 

 and yet substantial, which voluntarily fell into their hands. They 

 ate to repletion ; and no longer regretted the rich flesh-pots of 

 Pharaoh. 



I willingly excuse the gluttony of the famished. But what shall 

 I say of our people, in the richest countries of Europe, who, after 

 harvest and vintage-time, with barns and cellars brimming full, pursue 

 with no less fury these poor travellers ? Thin or fat, they are equally 

 good : they would eat even the swallows ; they devour the song-birds, 

 "those which have only a voice." Their wild frenzy dooms the 

 nightingale to the spit, plugks and kills the household guest, the poor 

 robin, which yesterday fed from their hands. 



The migration season is a season of slaughter. The law which 

 impels southward the tribes of birds is, for millions, a law of death. 



