Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

of trees. The house-wren destroys many pernicious insects.

BIRDS of SONG

Less frequent in deserts, than near the seats of cultivation.
Now as the eastern sun-beam caps the hill,
The verdant myrtles meet th' enliv'ning ray,
While yet the dews from ev'ry branch distil,
With swelling buds, and op'ning blossoms gay.
With these commixed, the Cistus gives her dyes,
And opes her silken petals to the sight;
Around the capsule glow her spotted eyes,
With scarlet lustre rich, and deeply bright.
Few birds of song, amidst these lone retreats,
Save when, at eve, sweet Philomela greets,
The stock-dove, cooing his impassioned vows,
For scarce the whistling blackbird and the thrush
Are heard to harmonize th' uncultured bush.

VALDARNO.

In a former volume (T. T. for 1816, pp. 120, 121), in speaking of the superiority of England over America, in respect to birds of song, we have given a slight sketch of the mocking-thrush or mock-bird, the substitute for the nightingale in the New World: we are now enabled to present our readers with a more elaborate description of this wonderful creature, drawn from the "American Ornithology" of Mr. WILSON.

The plumage of the mocking-bird (turdus polyglottus), though none of the homeliest, has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it; and, had he nothing else to recommend him, would scarcely entitle him to notice; but his figure is well proportioned, and even handsome. The ease, elegance, and rapidity of his movements, the animation of his eye, and the intelligence he displays in listening, and laying up lessons from almost every species of the feathered creation within his hearing, are really surprising, and mark the peculiarity of his genius. To these qualities we may add that of a voice full, strong, and musical, and capable of almost every modulation, from the clear mellow tones of the wood-thrush to the savage scream of the bald-eagle.

In the measure and accent he

faithfully follows his originals. In force and sweetness of expression he greatly improves upon them. In his native groves, mounted on the top of a tall bush or half-grown tree, in the dawn of a dewy morning, while the woods are already vocal with a multitude of warblers, his admirable song rises pre-eminent over every competitor. The ear can listen to his music alone, to which that of the others seems a mere accompaniment. Neither is this strain altogether imitative. His own native notes, which are easily distinguishable by such as are well acquainted with those of our various song birds, are bold and full, and varied seemingly beyond all limits. They consist of short expressions of two, three, or at most five or six syllables, generally interspersed with imitations, and all of them uttered with great emphasis and rapidity, and continued with undiminished ardour for half an hour, or an hour, at a time. His expanded wings and tail glistening with white, and the buoyant gaiety of his action arresting the eye, as his song most irresistibly does the ear, he sweeps round with enthusiastic ecstasy-he mounts and descends as his song swells or dies away. While exerting himself, a bystander, destitute of sight, would suppose that the whole feathered tribe had assembled together on a trial of skill, each striving to produce his utmost effect, so perfect are his imitations. He many times deceives the sportsman, and sends him in search of birds perhaps not within miles of him, but whose notes he exactly imitates: even birds themselves are frequently imposed upon by this admirable mimic, and are decoyed by the fancied calls of their mate; or dive, with precipitation, into the depth of thickets, at the scream of what they suppose to be the sparrowhawk.

The mocking-bird loses little of the power and energy of his song by confinement. In his domesticated state, when he commences his career of song, it is impossible to stand by uninterested. He whistles

for the dog; Cæsar starts up, wags his tail, and runs to meet his master. He squeaks out like a hurt chicken, and the hen hurries about with hanging wings and bristled feathers, clucking to protect her injured brood. The barking of a dog, the mewing of a cat, the creaking of a wheelbarrow, follow with truth and rapidity. He repeats the tune taught him by his master, though of considerable length, fully and faithfully; he runs over the quiverings of the canary, and the clear whistlings of the Virginia nightingale, or redbird, with such superior execution and effect, that the mortified songsters feel their own inferiority, and become altogether silent, while he seems to triumph in their defeat by redoubling his exertions.

This excessive fondness for variety, however, in the opinion of some, injures his song. His elevated imitations of the brown thrush are frequently interrupted by the crowing of cocks; and the warblings of the blue bird, which he exquisitely manages, are mingled with the screamings of swallows, or the cackling of hens: amidst the simple melody of the robin, we are suddenly surprised by the shrill reiterations of the whip-poorwill; while the notes of the killdeer, blue jay, martin, and twenty others, succeed with such imposing reality, that we look round for the originals, and discover, with astonishment, that the sole performer in this singular concert is the admirable bird now before us. During this exhibition of his powers, he spreads his wings, expands his tail, and throws himself around the cage in all the ecstasy of enthusiasm, seeming not only to sing, but to dance, keeping time to the measure of his music. Both in his native and domesticated state, during the solemm stilness of night, as soon as the moon rises in silent majesty, he begins his delightful solo, and serenades us the livelong night with a full display of his vocal powers, making the whole neighbourhood ring with his inimitable medley.-(American Ornithology, fol.)

We may now fairly combat the opinion advanced by some naturalists, and sanctioned by the poet', that song-birds are rarely to be found in warm climates. Besides the delightful bird so eloquently described above, we may observe that Bruce heard the song of the sky-lark in Abyssinia; Vaillant was charmed with the music of birds in the wilds of southern Africa; and Adanson tells us, that the swallows which he found in Senegal had not become silent in their passage from Europe. Nay, all the eastern poets introduce the music of the groves as an indispensable accompaniment in their finest descriptions. The pastoral poct of Israel says, The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.' (Cant. ii, 12.) Hafiz, also, the Persian Moore; the author of the Ramayuna; and the dramatist who wrote Sacontala, are loud in their praises of the music of birds. In the Koran also, and in the Arabian Tales, it is often mentioned. Not to multiply proofs, we shall merely mention two other instances. The summer red-bird, or Tanager, which inhabits the woods on the Mississippi, and is remarkable for laying up a large granary of maize for winter provision, is a delightful song-bird, and makes the forests resound with its summer warblings.

Thevenot, in his Travels, says, the river Jordan is on both sides beset with little, thick, and pleasant woods, among which thousands of nightingales warble all together; and Grosier observes, that among the birds of Tonkin is a species of goldfinch which sings so melodiously, that it is called the Celestial bird. Its wings, when it is perched, appear variegated with beautiful colours, but, when it flies, they lose all their splendour. Mr. Moore, in his Lalla Rookh, thus enumerates some of the oriental songsters :

'But if she bids them shine Arrayed in all the beauteous beams of day, Yet frugal still she humbles them in song.

THOMSON.

Latticed lightly in

With odoriferous woods of Comorin',
Each brilliant bird that wings the air is seen;-
Gay, sparkling loories, such as gleam between
The crimson blossoms of the coral tree2
In the warm isles of India's sunny sea:
Mecca's blue sacred pigeon3, and the thrush
Of Hindostan, whose holy warblings gush
At evening from the tall pagoda's top ;-
Those golden birds, that, in the spice time, drop
About the gardens, drunk with that sweet food
Whose scent hath lured them o'er the summer floods;
And those that under Araby's soft sun

Build their high nests of budding cinnamon.

LALLA ROOKH.

The tenants of the air are, in this month, busily employed in forming their temporary habitations, and in rearing and maintaining their offspring.-See T. T. for 1818, pp. 104-106.

As thus the patient dam assiduous sits,

Not to be tempted from her tender task,
Or by sharp hunger, or by smooth delight,

Though the whole loosened Spring around her blows,

1 Dr. Buchanan writing from Cape Comorin,' a lofty mountain, whose rocky-head seems to overhang its base,' says, The birds (baya or Indian grossbeak) which build the pendulous nests are here numerous. At night each of their little habitations is lighted up, as if to see company. The sagacious little bird fastens a bit of clay to the top of the nest, and then picks up a fire-fly, and sticks it on the clay to illuminate the dwelling, which consists of two rooms. Sometimes there are three or four fire-flies, and their blaze of light in the little cell dazzles the eyes of the bats, which often kill the young of these birds.—Pearson's Life of Buchanan, vol. ii, p. 55.

Thousands of variegated loories visit the coral trees.—Barrow. * In Mecca, there are quantities of blue pigeons, which none will af fright or abuse, much less kill.-Pitts.

* The pagoda thrush is esteemed among the first choristers of India. It sits perched on the sacred pagodas, and from thence delivers its melodious song.

5 Birds of paradise, which, at the nutmeg season, come in flights from the southern isles to India; and the strength of the nutmeg, says Tavernier, so affects them, that they fall to the earth intoxicated.

The bird which liveth in Arabia, and buildeth its nest with cinnamon."

« PoprzedniaDalej »