The Birds’ Calendar 
Spirit of the mountains; there is a wild and 
melancholy picturesqueness in the reminiscent 
water-fowl; but neither the grandeur of the 
one, nor the poetry of the other, can elicit that 
personal, affectionate regard that springs up for 
a creature that can translate its heart into song. 
What a hold the familiar song-birds of every 
country have upon the people! And commonly 
they are among the most plainly dressed of 
their kind. The song sparrow, the purple finch, 
the robin, the thrush, in our own country ; the 
wren, the chaffinch, and the skylark, in Eu- 
rope ; who would think of naming these among 
the feathered ‘‘ beauties,’’ yet who would not 
gladly sacrifice any of the merely ornamental 
species for such as these? Only heart speaks 
to heart, and the world in the end is swayed 
neither by fine manners nor by fine looks. 
Apart from the more subtle influence upon 
the mind wrought by these audible and visible 
impressions of nature, there comes a refinement 
of hearing, in the discrimination of tones and 
the unravelling of cadences ; a delicacy of vis- 
ion, in the minute distinctions of action, form, 
and color; an education of eye and ear, in it- 
self pleasurable, and enlarging one’s capacity 
for enjoyment. 
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