PICTURESQUE ANIMALS. 141 



The very minuteness of an object soaring to such a sub- 

 lime elevation gives us an idea of some almost super- 

 natural power, and his delightful song would seem to be 

 derived from heaven, whither he takes his flight while 

 giving utterance to it. We have no skylarks in America ; 

 but our common snipes, during the month of May, are 

 addicted to this habit of soaring, as I have remarked in 

 another essay, for a few hours after sunset. I have often 

 watched them in former times, and when witnessing their 

 spiral flight upwards to a great elevation, and listening to 

 their distinct but monotonous warbling after they have 

 arrived at the summit of their ascent, I have been con- 

 scious of an emotion of sublimity from a spectacle which 

 might be supposed too trivial to produce any such effect. 

 The picturesque character of the lark is apparent only 

 -when he is represented in his soaring flight. There is 

 nothing peculiar in the appearance of this bird as in that 

 of the owl. The sight of him aloft in the heavens is 

 necessaiy, therefore, to suggest the idea of his habits and 

 to make his true character apparent to the mind. 



Among the animals mentioned by certain writers as 

 possessing in an eminent degree those qualities which 

 appertain to the picturesqiie, is the ass. This point in 

 his character is attributed very erroneously to his shaggy 

 and uncouth appearance. It may assist in heightening 

 the expression of the animal ; but there are various ro- 

 mantic and poetical ideas associated with his figure, to 

 which this quality is mainly attributable. If it were 

 owing to his rude and rough exterior, the baboon and 

 the hyena would be as picturesque as the ass. No such 

 ideas, however, are associated with these animals. The 

 ass derives much of this character from his connection 

 with the incidents of romance and history. He is the 

 beast of burden most frequently mentioned in the Old 

 Testament, in the Fables of iEsop, and in the writings 



