BIRDS OF THE MOOR. 227 



slender rod through the air. There is a plaintive feeling 

 of mystery attached to these musical flights that yields 

 a savor of romance to the quiet voluptuousness of a 

 summer evening. 



On such occasions, if we are in a moralizing mood, 

 we are agreeably impressed with the truth of the maxim 

 that the secret of happiness consists in keeping alive 

 our susceptibilities by frugal indulgence, and by avoiding 

 an excess of pleasures that pall in proportion to their 

 abundance. The stillness and darkness of a quiet night 

 produce this quickening effect upon our minds. Our 

 susceptibility is then awakened to such a degree that 

 slight sounds and faintly discernible lights convey to 

 us an amount of pleasure that is seldom felt in the 

 daytime from influences even of a more inspiring char- 

 acter. Thus the player in an orchestra can enjoy such 

 music only as would deafen common ears by its crash 

 of sounds in which they can perceive no connection or 

 harmony ; while the simple rustic listens to the rude 

 notes of a flageolet in the hands of a clown with feelings 

 of ineffable delight. To the seekers after luxurious and 

 exciting pleasures, IsTature, if they could but understand 

 her language, would say, "Except ye become as this 

 simple rustic, ye cannot enter into my paradise." 



THE SNIPE. 



The Snipe has the nocturnal habits of the Woodcock, 

 and is common in New England in the spring and au- 

 tumn, but does not often breed here. It has the same 

 habits of feeding as the Woodcock, and the same way of 

 soaring into the air during morning and evening twilight, 

 when he performs a sort of musical medley, which Audu- 

 bon has described in the following passage : " The birds 

 are met with in the meadows and low grounds, and by 



