VOICES OF BIRDS. 185 



contending songsters of the grove, and the variety of 

 sound proceeding from every thing 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 associ- 

 ating 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 distance 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 plaintiveness ; but com- 

 pass of voice is given to the linnet, a bird of very in- 

 ferior powers. The strength of the larynx and 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 survive. 

 I have known our country birdcatchers 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 librate 

 like a kestrel over the place where the woodlark has 

 lodged; which so intimidates the bird- that it 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 lan- 

 guage of man, without any reference to the confusion 

 accomplished at Babel, has been broken into innumera- 

 Q2 



