THE MISSEL-THRUSH. 275 



song of hope delayed) lias not the spirit of the natural song. 

 It is true that, by midsummer, nature is muffled, by drooping 

 leaves, and falling blooms, and downy anthers ; and it waxes 

 fat and rank, so that though it may murmur, it will not 

 "ring clear" (like a moistened flute) as it does in the season 

 of vernal song, when all is fresh and full of sap ; but we also 

 can perceive a falling-off in the note itself; and we have a 

 corroboration in caged birds, which never give their song 

 with the full glee and power of that of the woodlands. Even 

 in the most admired song that is warbled from the prison- 

 house of wire, an ear tuned and habituated to the free strains 

 of nature can recognize a blending of the cry of irritation and 

 distress. Nor can it be otherwise. The bird is the child of 

 Nature as much as man is, and it loves liberty as well 

 better, for it will not voluntarily exchange that to be a 

 pampered slave in a palace. It puts one in mind of that 

 exquisitely mournful delineation of the children of Israel, in 

 painful servitude and restraint, even on the palmy shores of 

 the wide-rolling Euphrates ; and one cannot contemplate the 

 imprisoned bird, without thinking on the mossy tree, the 

 little nest, and the chirping brood, and feeling the force of 

 the unanswerable interrogatory " Ah ! how can we sing the 

 song of our God in the place of our captivity?" 



If matters fare prosperously, the missel-thrush has moulted, 

 and is partially in song, in the early part of autumn ; and by 

 the time that the second brood is fledged, the animal supply 

 for the year is nearly over, and the family flock together in 

 quest of berries, at which time they do not hesitate to lay 

 the gardens under contribution. Thence, till they sing again, 

 is the time when they are best in flesh and in flavour ; and 

 when the fruit of the service-tree and the mountain ash may 

 be repaid by a delicious meal, without any injury to the 

 economy of nature, and with some saving of the crop on the 

 late vines. 



