I presume that, with proper assistants, I should have settled the matter past all doubt; but though the third of November was a sweet day, and, in appearance, exactly suited to my wishes, yet not a martin was to be seen, and so I was forced, reluctantly, to give up the pursuit. I have only to add, that were the bushes, which cover some acres, and are not my own property, to be grubbed and carefully examined, probably those late broods, and perhaps the whole aggregate body of the house-martins of this district, might be found there, in different secret dormitories; and that, so far from withdrawing into warmer climes, it would appear that they never depart three hundred yards from the village, LETTER C. TO THE SAME. THEY who write on natural history, cannot too frequently advert to instinct, that wonderful limited faculty, which, in some instances, raises the brute creation, as it were, above reason, and in others, leaves them so far below it. Philosophers have defined instinct to be that secret influence by which every species is impelled naturally to pursue, at all times, the same way, or track, without any teaching or example; whereas reason, without instruction, would often vary, and do that by any methods which instinct effects by one alone. Now, this maxim must be taken in a qualified sense, for there are instances in which instinct does vary and conform to the circumstances of place and con venience. It has been remarked, that every species of bird has a mode of nidification peculiar to itself, so that a schoolboy * from peculiar causes, but no proof has yet been brought forward that they do so generally.-Ed. * Birds certainly alter their mode of nidification for peculiar purposes, especially for concealing the nest more effectually. I have observed instances of this with respect to the wren and fly-catcher.-ED. would at once pronounce on the sort of nest before him. This is the case among fields, and woods, and wilds; but, in the villages round London, where mosses, and gossamer and cotton from vegetables, are hardly to be found, the nest of the chaffinch has not that elegant finished appearance, nor is it so beautifully studded with lichens as in a more rural district; and the wren is obliged to construct its house with straws and dry grasses, which do not give it that rotundity and compactness so remarkable in the edifices of that little architect. Again, the regular nest of the house-martin is hemispheric; but where a rafter or a joist, or a cornice, may happen to stand in the way, the nest is so contrived as to conform to the obstruction, and becomes flat, or oval, or compressed.* In the following instances, instinct is perfectly uniform and consistent. There are three creatures—the squirrel, the field-mouse and the nut-hatch (sitta europea), which live much on hazel-nuts, and yet they open them each in a different way. The first, after rasping off the small end, splits the shell into two with his long fore-teeth, as a man does with his knife; the second nibbles a hole with his teeth, so regular as if drilled with a wimble, and yet so small that one would wonder how the kernel can be extracted through it; while the last picks an irregular ragged hole with its bill; but as this artist has no paws to hold the nut firm while he pierces it, like an adroit workman, he fixes it as it were, in a vice, in some cleft of a tree, or in some crevice, when, standing over it, he perforates the stubborn shell. have often placed nuts in the chink of a gate-post, where nut-hatches have been known to haunt, and have always found that those birds have readily penetrated them. While at work they make a rapping noise that may be heard at a considerable distance. We You that understand both the theory and practical part of music, may best inform us why harmony or melody should so strangely affect some men, as it were, by recollection, for "Each creature has a wisdom for its good: The pigeons feed their tender offspring, crying, When they are fledge, that need may teach them flying."-HERBER). days after a concert is over. What I mean, the following passage will most readily explain "Præhabebat porrò vocibus humanis, instrumentisque harmonicis, musicam illam avium: non quod aliâ quoque non delectaretur; sed quod ex musicâ humanâ relinqueretur in animo continens quædam, attentionemque et somnum conturbaus agitatio: dum ascensus, exscensus, tenores, ac mutationes illæ sonorum et consonantiarum, euntque, redeuntque per phantasiam:-cum nihil tale relinqui possit ex modulationibus avium, quæ, quod non sunt perinde a nobis imitabiles, non possunt perinde internam facultatem commovere.". GASSENDUS, in Vitá Peireskii.-"He preferred, also, the music of birds to vocal and instrumental harmony; not that he did not take pleasure in any other, but because there was left in the mind some constant agitation, disturbing the sleep and the attention, whilst the several variations of sound and concord go and return through the imagination, when no such effect can be produced by the modulation of birds, because, as they are not equally imitable by us, they cannot equally excite the internal faculty." This curious quotation strikes me much by so well representing my own case, and by describing what I have so often felt, but never could so well express. When I hear fine music, I am haunted with passages therefrom night and day; and especially at first waking, which, by their importunity, give more uneasiness than pleasure: elegant lessons still teaze my imagination, and recur irresistibly to my recollection at seasons, and even when I am desirous of thinking of more serious matters. |