158 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



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gined. The long-continued song, "wild, rapid, 

 and irregular in time and tone," is sung cheerfully 

 when the bird is placed in a large case with other 

 birds ; it flies and plays about all day long, but, for- 

 tunately for it, it is rarely chosen for a cage bird 

 in England. It is the true beccafico of the Italians, 

 so celebrated as a luxurious food. Mr. Broderip 

 quotes an enthusiastic eulogy of this species from 

 " the Professor, who gave to the world the Phi- 

 siologie du Goiit," which may be thus translated : 

 — " Amongst the smaller birds, the beccafico is 

 unquestionably the first. He fattens, at least, as 

 well as the redbreast or the ortolan ; and Nature 

 has bestowed on him besides, a slight bitterness, 

 and an unrivalled perfume, so exquisite, that they 

 engage, fill, and beatify all the gustative powers. 

 If the beccafico were of the size of a pheasant, he 

 would certainly be pm'chased at the price of an 

 acre of land. It is greatly to be lamented that 

 this privileged bird is so seldom seen at Paris. 

 Some few, indeed, an-ive there, but they are 

 wanting in that fatness which constitutes their 

 whole merit ; and one may say, that they hardly 

 resemble at all those which are to be seen in the 

 eastern or southern departments of France." 



