

X. 



A RUFFIAN IN FEATHERS. 



WE all know Shakespeare's opinion of the 

 " man that hath no music in himself," although 

 we usually misquote it. If this be a fair judg- 

 ment of the human race, how much more justly 

 may it be said of the bird, to whom we look 

 for the sweetest harmonies of nature ! 



I do not think his best friend will claim that 

 the common house sparrow has the soul of music 

 in him ; certainly not if he has ever been wak- 

 ened in a glorious dawn by the indescribable 

 jangle of harsh sounds which constitutes this 

 bird's only morning hymn, at the hour when 

 every bird in the woods, from the noble singers 

 of the thrush family down to the least chipping 

 sparrow, is greeting the new day in his most 

 musical fashion. 



The matin song of the house sparrow, in 

 which he indulges unsparingly, being of similar 

 quality, harmonizes perfectly with the jarring 

 sounds of man's contriving ; the clatter of iron- 



