FACULTIES OF THE .MINI). 283 



which often approaches the natural, and the presumption 

 is strengthened by the circumstance, that the first attempts 

 at song, termed recording, are merely repetitions of the na- 

 tural cry of the bird. 



There is another feature in the song of birds which 

 merits observation. They sing chiefly during the season 

 of love, and in confinement, when in full health. Hence 

 we may regard this language as connected with appetite 

 and expressive of enjoyment or pleasure. 



All the individuals of a species acquire the same song in 

 whatever country they have been hatched. Slight diffe- 

 rences have indeed been observed; and hence, as we 

 are informed by BARRINGTOX, the London bird-catchers 

 prefer the gong of the Kentish gold-finches, but Essex chaf- 

 finches, and the nightingale fanciers, a Surrey bird to those 

 of Middlesex. These variations may be expected accord- 

 ing to the constitution of individuals, affected by the food 

 and temperature of the places in which they have been 

 reared. They are, however, confined to narrow bounds, 

 and require a very delicate and experienced observer to de- 

 tect their existence. 



We have thought it expedient to offer these observations 

 on the acquired language of birds, in order to enable us to 

 form a more correct idea of the language of M an. In treat- 

 ing of this branch of the subject, we shall confine ourselves 

 to what may be termed the natural characters of human 

 speech, leaving the details of its artificial arrangement to 

 the rhetorician and grammarian. 



Independent of the natural cries by which, in infancy, 

 we express our wants, we hear sounds uttered by the indi- 

 viduals of our species around us, which we are disposed to 

 imitate, and soon find ourselves equal to the task. These 

 words or sounds we soon perceive to be the names employ- 

 ed to designate particular objects ; we learn to use them for 



