“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 its injured brood. The barking of the dog, the mewing of the cat, the creaking of a passing wheelbarrow, follow, with great 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 the 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.
“Both in his native and domesticated state, during the solemn stillness 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 melody.”
A lover of natural history cannot I think be a bad man, as the very study of it tends to promote a calmness and serenity of mind, favourable to the reception of grateful and holy thoughts of the great and good Parent of the universe. He cannot be a cruel man, because he will be unwilling wantonly to destroy even an insect, when he perceives how exquisitively each of them is contrived, and how curiously it is made for the station it is destined to fill in the animal world.—JESSE.
Many methods have been suggested for saving life in cases of accidents on the water: the following was stated to me as an experiment actually made by the relater; he had thus supported himself in the sea, at Plymouth, for twenty minutes, and could have done it much longer. As danger of overturning or of sinking appears, have your hat in readiness, and place it under your chin, holding it with your hands in the same position upon the water as on the head. The air in the crown will prevent the water from rising, and is sufficient to keep the whole head above water.