THE SONG OF BIEDS. 19 J 



graceful inhabitants of the air, which give so much animation to 

 country life and solitary rambles. In the silence of night, when 

 all nature sleeps and life seems suspended, all at once certain 

 notes of harmony rise from under the dense foliage, as if to pro- 

 test against the universal silence. It is sometimes a plaintive 

 cry, prolonged into a stifled sigh, now a continuous warbling, 

 now a lively song, gay and melodious, which the whole forest re- 

 echoes to. 



When the darkness of night gives place to the first dawn of 

 day — when the soft gleam of Aurora has appeared on the horizon, 

 all is transformed, all is vivified on the new-born earth, latelj' 

 asleep and apparently deserted. The larger birds rise higher 

 and higher in the air, till they are lost in the clouds. The small 

 birds hop from branch to branch with joyous gambols, commu- 

 nicating a movement of happiness and content over all nature. 

 What a wonderful variety of music issues from them — what 

 dazzling brilliancy and variety deck their j)lumage — what a 

 charm pervades the whole scene, enlivened by these living flowers 

 flitting about in intense enjoyment, hovering, traversing, and 

 embellishing the air ! Be it a Titmouse, which seems to spend its 

 life suspended from the branch of a tree ; or the Fly Catcher, 

 on the other hand, always perched ; the Lark, performing its 

 graceful circles in the air as it rises higher and higher, pouring 

 forth its melodious song more vigorously with each circle described ; 

 the Thrush, which runs along the grassy path, watching for its 

 prey, or the House Sparrow chirjjing from the straw-built roof, or 

 the Robin warbling from some leafless bower — how complete!}^ the 

 little winged wanderers decorate the landscape and improve the 

 picture with their innocent gambols ! 



Assuredly birds have a language which they alone comprehend. 

 When danger threatens them, a particular cry is uttered by one, 

 and immediately all of the same species hide themselves until 

 their fears are dispelled and confidence restored. When the pre- 

 sence of a bird of prej^ is announced by the plaintive cry of the 

 Thrush, all the feathered race of the neighbourhood are hushed 

 into silence. 



Birds of prey with cai-nivorous instincts live in the most solitary 

 places. The Eagle lives alone with his mate in some unapproach- 



o2 



