THE THRUSH IN THE HEBRIDES 181 
There may be wilder, louder, and more marvellous 
songs, and the mocking bird may be singing the 
requiem of the Eed Indian of the Ohio, or cheering 
the heart of his ruthless oppressor, the white man 
of many inventions; but to me it is all-sufficient, 
for it enters into the soul, melts the heart into 
tenderness, diffuses a holy calm, and connects the 
peace of earth with the transcendent happiness of 
heaven. In other places the song of the thrush 
may be lively and cheery; here, in the ocean-girt 
solitude, it is gentle and soothing; by its magic 
influence it smoothes the ruffled surface of the sea of 
human feelings, as it floats over it at intervals with 
its varied swells and cadences, like the perfumed 
wavelets of the summer wind .—British Birds , vol. 
ii., pp. 130, 131. 
14 .—The Carol of the Lark. 
The mellow song of the merle or mavis is apt 
to inspire melancholy, especially if heard in a 
sequestered valley toward the close of day, and the 
feelings which it excites have perhaps as much of a 
depressing as of a soothing tendency; but the carol 
of the lark, like the lively fife, excites pure cheer¬ 
fulness, and might with propriety be prescribed as 
an antidote of dulness. It is not merely music 
that we look for in the song of birds, but variety, 
and the expression of passions, feelings, and wants. 
Were all our warblers to tune their throats accord- 
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