to devote this paper; and the first example I shall adduce is that of the carrier-pigeon. It is believed that the remarkable faculty by which this bird finds its way to its distant home, is almost exclusively its power of sight. This opinion is supported by the manner in which it executes its journey, so far as this has been ascertained. When let off from a low station, in an unknown locality, it rises by irregular excursions to a certain height, and then commences its route by a rapid flight in gyrations, taking in a larger and larger space at every turn, and thus obtaining a complete survey of the whole distriet in every direction; and it is supposed to continue this circular motion till some known object arrests its vision, and makes it aware of its position, when it darts forward with incredible velocity in the right direction. If liberated from a balloon, when high in the air, the bird drops perpendicularly downwards, till it come within such a distance of the earth, that it can distinguish landmarks, and then commences its wheeling flight, as already described.

If this account be correct, the velocity of the carrier-pigeon is indeed incredible. M. Antoine relates, that a gentleman of Cologne, having business to transact at Paris, took with him two carrier-pigeons; and having arrived at the metropolis, he tied a letter to each of his pigeons, and despatched them at eleven o'clock precisely. One of them arrived at Cologne at five minutes past one o'clock, and the other nine minutes later, having thus completed a journey of 300 miles in little more than two hours! This was at the rate of nearly 150 miles an hour, supposing their flight had been in a direct line. If it was circular, as observation would lead one to suppose, the extent traversed must have been immensely greater.

Audubon gives a similar, though considerably less marvellous, account of the velocity of the American pigeon. He says, that pigeons have been killed in the neighbourhood of

tv York, with their crops full of rice, which they must have collected in the fields of Georgia or Carolina, these districts being the nearest in which they could have procured a supply of this kind of food. As their power of digestion is

so great, that they will decompose food entirely in twelve hours, they must in that case have travelled between 300 and 400 miles in six hours, which shows their speed to be, at an average, about one mile in a minute. A velocity such as this would enable one of these birds, were it so inclined, to visit the European continent in less than three days.' This naturalist goes on to observe, that the great power of vision possessed by the pigeon, enables it, as it travels at that swift rate, to inspect the country below, and discover its food with facility; which he has ascertained by observing, that when traversing barren tracks, they keep high in the air, to descry distant lands; whereas, when the country is fertile, they fly lower, to fix on the part most plentifully supplied with food. As soon,' he graphically adds, ' as the pigeons discover a sufficiency of food to entice them to alight, they fly around in circles, reviewing the country below. During their evolutions on such occassions, the dense mass which they form exibits a beautiful appearance as it changes its direction, now displaying a glittering sheet of azure, when the backs of the birds come simultaneously into view; and anon suddenly presenting a mass of rich deep purple. They then pass lower over the woods, and are for a moment lost among the foliage; but again emerge, and are seen gliding aloft.'*

carcass.

It would appear, from an observation of Professor Lichenstein, that birds which feed on carrion may probably resort to circular flights, similar to the pigeon, in order to discover a He remarked, when travelling in Southern Africa, that if an animal chanced to die, in the very midst of the most desert wilderness, in less than half an hour there was seen, high in the zenith, a number of minute objects descending in spiral circles, and increasing in visible magnitude at every revolution. These were soon discovered to be a flight of vultures, which must have observed from a height viewless to the human eye, the dropping of the animal immediately marked out for prey.†

Dr. James Johnstone mentions a fact illustrative of the same * Ornithological Biography, p. 323. + Travels in Africa.

view. During the north-east monsoon, when the wind blew steadily in one point for months in succession, he observed a concourse of birds of prey from every quarter of the horizon, hastening to a corpse that was floating down the river Ganges. Their sudden appearance he accounts for in the same manner as Professor Lichenstein, by their soaring high in the air in search of food. It could not be owing to the acuteness of scent, as they crowded in from the points from which the wind blew, as well as in the opposite direction. It has indeed been ascertained, by positive experiment, that vultures, and other birds of prey, are guided to their food by the sight, and not by the smell. Audubon, being desirous of satisfying himself on this point, caused a large dead hog to be concealed in a narrow and winding ravine, which was filled with briars and high cane. This was done in the month of July, in a tropical climate, where putrefaction takes place with great rapidity. Yet, though many vultures were seen, from time to time, sailing in all directions over the spot, they seemed perfectly unconscious of its presence, while the dogs found their way to it, and devoured the flesh. On the other hand, when Audubon stuffed a deer-skin full of hay, and laid it down on its back, in the attitude of a dead animal, it was, in the course of a few minutes, visited by a vulture, which tore open the dried skin, and did not retreat till it had torn out large quantities of the hay, and perceived that there was no flesh within. These experiments seem to be conclusive.

EIGHTH WEEK-FRIDAY.

BIRDS. THEIR VOICE.

WHEN a little quaker girl of my acquaintance was once humming a tune in the presence of a stiff maiden aunt of the same profession, the old lady, scandalized at what she considered an unbecoming levity, said to her reproachfully, 'Rachel, who taught thee to sing?' On which the child archly replied,

'It was the little birds, aunt, that taught me to sing.' There was much truth as well as sweetness in this reply. It is the hand of the Creator which has given the power of song to the birds; and it is the same hand which has bountifully gifted man with a musical ear, and a musical voice. The inference is irresistable, that music is intended to add to the enjoyments of the human race; and that to refuse the gift, is to show equal ingratitude to the Giver as when we abuse it.

There is something at once peculiar and delightful in the musical intonations of the feathered tribes, which affords a clear indication of beneficent design. The music of the groves has always been a favourite theme with the poet; and civilized man is probably more alive to the pleasure derived from this source than the savage; but there is no class of rational beings to whom the song of the little warbler is not a source of enjoyment. Let any man consider for a moment how much would be detracted from the delight of the early summer months, if the feathered tribes were dumb, and he will be better able to appreciate the beneficence of the provision, as regards the human race.

But we must never forget, that the Universal Parent has not confined his paternal care to man alone. It is pleasing to see the same attention paid to the lower creation, up to the extent which their humbler sphere requires. The songs of birds, which are so agreeable to us, are probably more delightful, and far more significant to the respective tribes which give utterance to them. They are to them the language of conjugal affection, of parental love, of triumphant exultation, of social enjoyment. They animate and urge forward the labours of nest-building; they cheer the tedium of incubation: they infuse joy into the hearts of the callow brood; they bid defiance to enemies, and inspire friends with confidence.

But the voice of birds is not confined to musical intonations. Their Creator has bestowed upon them the power of communicating with each other in a still more extensive manner; and although they are incapable of uttering articulate sounds, these tribes, as well as other orders of the lower animals, may in a

limited sense be said to possess the power of intercouse by means of a natural language, the utterance of which are instinctively understood by each species respectively. Dr. Macculloch's work contains some curious and ingenious remarks on the language of the lower aniinals, which may, perhaps, in some particulars, be rather overstrained, but which deserve serious consideration. He alleges, that the ears of these animals are more susceptible of a minute distinction of sounds, than those of the human race; and hence infers, that they have a greater variety in their language than we can properly comprehend. 'In the nightingale and thrush,' says he, 'we distinguish a great number of sounds and articulations, because they belong or approach to that musical scale for which our sense of hearing is adapted. But we cannot doubt, that in these, and still more in birds whose tones are less musical and definite, there are sounds which we do not truly distinguish, and which we, therefore, neglect, in favour of those to which we are most sensible. And there is no difficulty in believing, that the song of a nightingale is better understood by itself than by us, or that it contains much more than we hear. If I were to suggest that it contains a definite set of phrases, with meaning to the animal itself and its kind, there would be nothing absurd in the proposition, since it possesses, even to our ears, a greater variety of articulation than we can find in any human language with which we are acquainted; while, in confirmation of this general view, all who have attended to such subjects must know, that where these birds abound, long debates are often carried on among them, in tones and articulations quite distinct from the ordinary song When we decide otherwise, we are deciding from a prejudice, or assuming that it is not a language, because we do not understand it. We should be equally justified in thus deciding as to the Arabic."*

Having shown that the lower animals may possess lan

* Attributes of God, vol. i. p. 559. Dr. Macculloch strengthens his argument by a learned dissertation on the nature of musical sounds, and defects in the human ear, on which I do not think it necessary to enter.