EXCURSIONS ROUND LONDON. 



to scream amid ruins and desolate 



o 



places. 



Buffon observes that the sweet songs of 

 birds are often acquired by imitating the 

 human voice, or the sounds of our musical 

 instruments. Is it not singular, says he, 

 that, in all civilised nations, the greater 

 number of the birds possess a sweet and 

 melodious voice; while in the immense 

 African and American deserts, which arc 

 only peopled by savage and wandering 

 tribes, there exist none but birds of prey, 

 remarkable only for their harsh and discor- 

 dant cries ? 



It is the varied songs of the linnet, the 

 ark, the thrush, the nightingale, and many 

 other species of birds, which, in this climate, 

 bestow such a charm on the enchanting; 



o 



days of spring, t, though the other 

 seasons are not marked bv such harmonious 



V 



concert*, vet they are not wholly destitute 



' / 4/ V 



of them. 



Often, toward the decline of the year, 



hare 



