{ IKON 
li na NA 
uy a i 
ai 
i itl if 
THE SONG. 
THERE is no one who will not have remarked that 
birds kept in a cage in a drawing-room never fail, if 
'*) visitors arrive and the conversation grows animated, 
to take a part in it, after their fashion, by chattering 
or singing. 
It is their universal instinct, even in a condition 
of freedom. They are the echoes both of God and of 
man, ‘They associate themselves with all sounds and 
voices, add their own poesy, their wild and simple 
rhythms. By analogy, by contrast, they augment 
‘**- and complete the grand effects of nature. To the 
hoarse beating of the waves the sea-bird opposes his shrill strident 
notes; with the monotonous murmuring of the agitated trees the turtle- 
dove and a hundred birds blend a soft sad cadence ; to the awakening 
