VOICES OF BIRDS. 
301 
jj^cles of the throat in birds, is infinitely greater than 
J the human race. The loudest shout of the peasant 
.' J Ut a feeble cry compared with that of the golden- 
duck, the wild goose, or even this lark. The 
jT®6t song of this poor little bird, with a fate like that 
tlie nightingale, renders it an object of capture and 
I, finement, which few of them comparatively survive, 
.have known our country bird-catchers take them by 
, Very g hnple but effectual method. Watching them 
*he ground, the wings of a hawk, or of the brown owl, 
^ -tched out, are drawn against the current of air by 
lotting, as a paper kite, and made to flutter and librate 
a kestrel over the place where the woodlark has 
-hged, and so intimidates the bird, that it remains 
| Wiling and motionless as a stone on the ground: a 
^<1 net is brought over it, and it is caught, 
n From various little scraps of intelligence scattered 
, htugh the sacred and ancient writings, it appears 
.Main, as it was reasonable to conclude, that the notes 
s. 1 '"' used by birds, and the voices of animals, are the 
> tri1 ' as uttered by their earliest progenitors. The 
Jrfuage of man, without any reference to the confusion 
/."Uiplishcd at Babel, has been broken into innumer- 
,. c dialects, created or compounded as his wants 
furred, or his ideas prompted, or obtained by iuter- 
ll ’ u >'se with others, as mental enlargement or novelty 
i! l;( -s$itatcd new words to express new sentiments. 
, <Jll ld wo find a people from Japan or the Pole, whose 
JfMcss in mind has been stationary, without increase 
'dea, from national prejudice or impossibility of 
, Mnunication with others, we probably should find 
|ii. 1 or n0 alteration in the original language of that 
jjple ; so, by analogy of reasoning, the animal having no 
to prompt, no new want to express, no converse with 
I, l<T s, (for a note caught and uttered merely is like a 
blocking tlie cuckoo, )so no new language is acquired. 
i,') 5 ' 1 civilized man, everything is progressive; with 
where there is no mind, all is stationary. Even 
v oice of one species of birds, except in particular 
seems not to be attended to by another species. 
