OF THE SPARROW KIND. 



133 



song to the male. This serves as a note of 

 blandishment at first to attract her affections ; 

 it serves as a note to delight her during the 

 time of her incubation ; but it serves still 

 farther as a note of security, to assure her that 



Ringdove, (Palumbus torquatus]. Lays in the be- 

 ginning of April. 



To this list we may add the following beautiful pas- 

 sage on the voices of birds, by a brother naturalist, Mr 

 Knapp. 



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 con- 

 spicuously feathered; the goldfinch, the chaffinch, the 

 wagtails, are all eminently adorned, and the fine grada- 

 tions of sober browns in several others are very pleasing. 

 Those sweet sounds, called the song of birds, proceed 

 only from the male ; and with a few exceptions, only 

 during the season of incubation. Hence the compara- 

 tive quietness of our summer months, when this care is 

 over, except from accidental causes, where a second 

 nest is formed ; few of our birds bringing up more than 

 one brood in the season. The red-breast, blackbird, 

 and thrush, in mild winters, may continually be heard, 

 and form exceptions to the general procedure of our 

 British birds; and we have one little bird, the woodlark 

 (alauda arborea), that, in the early parts of the autum- 

 nal months, delights us with its harmony, and its carols 

 may be heard in the air commonly during the calm 

 sunny mornings of this season. They have a softness 

 and quietness, perfectly in unison with the sober, almost 

 melancholy stillness of the hour. The skylark also sings 

 now, and its song is very sweet, full of harmony, cheer- 

 ful as the blue sky and gladdening beam in which it 

 circles and sports, and known and admired by all ; but 

 the voice of the woodlark is local not so generally 

 heard from its softness, must almost be listened for, to 

 be distinguished, and has not any pretensions to the 

 hilarity of the former. This little bird sings likewise in 

 the spring; but at that season, the contending songsters 

 of the grove, and the variety of sound proceeding from 

 everything that has utterance, confuse and almost render 

 inaudible the placid voice of the woodlark. It delights 

 to fix its residence near little groves and copses, or quiet 

 pastures, and is a very unobtrusive bird, not uniting in 

 companies, but associating in its own little family-parties 

 only, feeding in the woodlands on seeds and insects. 

 Upon the approach of man, it crouches close to the 

 ground, then suddenly darts away, as if for a distant 

 flight, but settles again almost immediately. This lark 

 will often continue its song, circle in the air, a scarcely 

 visible speck, by the hour together ; and the vast dis- 

 tance from which its voice reaches us in a calm day is 

 almost incredible. In the scale of comparison, it stands 

 immediately below the nightingale in melody and plain- 

 tiveness ; but compass of voice is given to the linnet, a 

 bird of very inferior powers. The strength of the larynx 

 arid of the muscles of the throat in birds is infinitely 

 greater than in the human race. The loudest shout of 

 the peasant is but a feeble cry, compared with that of 

 the golden-eyed duck, the wild goose, or even this lark. 

 The sweet song of this poor little bird, with a fate like 

 that of the nightingale, renders it an object of capture 

 and confinement, which few of them comparatively sur- 

 vive. I have known our country bird-catchers take 

 them by a very simple but effectual method. Watching 

 them to the ground, the wings of a hawk, or of the 

 brown owl stretched out, are drawn against the current 

 of air by a string, as a paper kite, and made to flutter 

 and vibrate like a kestrel over the place where the wood- 

 lark has lodgtd ; which so intimidates the bird, that it 



no danger threatens to molest her. The male, 

 while his mate is hatching, sits upon some 

 neighbouring tree, continuing at once to 

 watch and to sing. While his voice is heard, 

 the female rests in confident security; and, as 



remains crouching and motionless as a stone on the 

 ground; a hand net is brought over it, and it is caught. 

 From various little scraps of intelligence scattered 

 through the sacred and ancient writings, it appears cer- 

 tain, as it was reasonable to conclude, that the notes now 

 used by birds, and the voices of animals, are the same 

 as uttered by their earliest progenitors. The language 

 of man, without any reference to the confusion accom- 

 plished at Babel, has been broken into innumerable 

 dialects, created or compounded as his wants occurred, 

 or his ideas prompted ; or obtained by intercourse with 

 others, as mental enlargement or novelty necessitated 

 new words to express new sentiments. Could we find 

 a people from Japan or the Pole, whose progress in mind 

 has been stationary, without increase of idea, from 

 national prejudice or impossibility of communication 

 with others, we probably should find little or no altera- 

 tion in the original language of that people ; so, by 

 analogy of reasoning, the animal having no idea to 

 prompt, no new want to express, no converse with 

 others, (for a note caught and uttered merely is like a 

 boy mocking the cuckoo,) so no new language is ac- 

 quired. With civilized man, every thing is progres- 

 sive ; with animals, where there is no mind, all is 

 stationary. Even the voice of one species of birds, 

 except in particular cases, seems not to be attended to 

 by another species. That peculiar call of the female 

 cuckoo, which assembles so many contending lovers, and 

 all the various amatorial and caressing language of 

 others, excites no influence generally, that I am aware 

 of; with all but the individual species it is a dialect 

 unknown. I know but one note which animals make 

 use of, that seems of universal comprehension, and this 

 is the signal of danger. The instant that it is uttered, 

 we hear the whole flock, though composed of various 

 species, repeat a separate moan, and away they all 

 scuttle into the bushes for safety. The reiterated 

 " twink twink" of the chaffinch is known by every 

 little bird as information of some prowling cat or weasel. 

 Some give the maternal hush to their young, and mount 

 to inquire into the jeopardy announced. The wren, 

 that tells of perils from the hedge, soon collects about 

 her all the various inquisitive species within hearing, to 

 survey and ascertain the object, and add their separate 

 fears. The swallow, that shrieking darts in devious 

 flight through the air when a hawk appears, not only 

 calls up all the hirundines of the village, but is instantly 

 understood by every finch and sparrow, and its warning 

 attended to. As nature, in all her ordinations, had a 

 fixed design and foreknowledge, it may be that each 

 species had a separate voice assigned it, that each might 

 continue as created, distinct and unmixed: and the very 

 few deviations and admixtures that have taken place, 

 considering the lapse of time, association, and oppor- 

 tunity, united with the prohibition of continuing acci- 

 dental deviations, are very remarkable, and indicate a 

 cause and original motive. That some of the notes of 

 birds are as language designed to convey a meaning, is 

 obvious from the very different sounds uttered by these 

 creatures at particular periods: the spring voices become 

 changed as summer advances, and the requirements of 

 the early season have ceased ; the summer excitements, 

 monitions, informations, are not needed in autumn, and 

 the notes conveying such intelligences are no longer 

 heard. The periodical calls of animals, croaking of 

 frogs, &c. afford the same reasons for concluding that 

 the sound of their voices by elevation, depression, or 

 modulation, conveys intelligence equivalent to an uttered 



