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    which are not less necessary to the process ; and which , though the effect of skilful arrangement , are yet so Ar * automatic , or simply consecutive , that an interruption of their course would place the creature under much difficulty in resuming those which are necessary to the process . It is the habit of the Boa constrictor , a large serpent , to crush and break the bones of the animal it seizes to devour ; and so ncc

    it seemed to experience much trouble in expanding its jaws , the joints of which had orown rigid from want , of use . But when they had become flexible by repeated efforts , it proceeded to draw in the bird by the slow but persevering action of its jaws and teeth ; and no difficulty appeared to hinder the easy accomplishment of the task . Suddenly , however , and rapidly , the serpent threw the coils of its body , at a foot or two behind the head , about the object , ( as would have been appropriate to a larger prey , ) and compressing it tightly , the body and wings of the bird became pressed and lengthened ; at which time , still holding firmly by the mouth , it drew the pigeon from the constriction of its coil , and swallowed it with ease . The interposed portion of this proceeding appeared to be entirely unnecessary , so far as concerned its capacity of swallowing this prey : but it seemed to be instinctively unavoidable ; and the age of the creature was decisive to show that it could never have previously had an opportunity of practising it on any animal tha by its bulk could have rendered so complex an operation necessary . "

    Speaking of the various degrees of sensibility manifested by various animals , he says" And how wide an influence even a email difference in these respects may have may be judged by recollecting , that anatomists have not been able to appreciate any change of structure , when in the phenomena of diseased vision the human eye has become insensible to the impression of some colours , while it has retained a sensibility to others . It is not improbable that this variety of liability to impression , which in man amounts to disease , is in some animals natural and permanent ; and thus we are able the more easily to explain how it happens that in the latter certain colours produce emotions of rage and terror . That the Bull , the Buffalo , and Turkey , are excited to fury at the sight of a red garment , becomes thus as explicable , as that the melodious ear is tortured by discordant sounds , which to inferior organizations would be matters of indifference .

    " The conclusion , then , is this : that the essential difference by which one kind of animal is distinguished from another , and in which therefore its specific identity consists , is constituted by the peculiarity of tissue in its various organs , and the preponderance or complications of such tissue in its whole structure ; but more especially by the peculiarity of its nervous fabric , and the arrangement of what is called its nervous system ; by which impressions are received , and through which they are conveyed to the sensorium—according to the nature of the objects impressin g them ; and still more powerfully according to the nature of the organs accepting and conveying , and of the nervous centre by which they are finally perceived . "

    Curiously enough , side by side with the dislike to give animals the credit of possessing intelligence like ours , we have all a tendency to interpret some of their actions as showing cleverness and foresight , when in truth these actions spring from nothing of the kind . When we see them do something which we should do upon calculation , we assume that they too calculate . Thus , when frightened animals feign death , we say , " how cunning ! " But Mr . Grouch very ingeniously argues , that this is not cunning , but the paralysis of fear : — " The character for subtlety which the Fox has hud from the earliest nges , is the main reason why his assumed or presumed inanimation when in danger lias been ascribed to intention : for otherwise some of the instances we have given , on this supposition , would not appear to bo exceedingly well devised . In two instances

    ¦ which I liave adduced , at least an effort at escape would have been the most judicious proceeding ; and in his adventure with the countryman it seems surprising that this was not attempted . But a more probable explanation is , that the suddenness of the encounter , at a time when the creature thought of no such thing 1 , had the effect of stupefying his senses ; so that an effort at escape was out of his power , and the appearance of death was not tho fictitious contrivance of cunning , but tho consequence of terror . And that this explanation is the true one appears , -among other proofs , from tho conduct of a bolder and more ferocious animal , the Wolf , under similar circumstances . If taken in a pitfall , it is said that it is ho subdued by surprise , that a man may safely descend and bind and lend it away , or knock it on the head ; mid it is also said that , when it lias wandered into a country to which it is a stranger , it loses much of its courage , and may be assailed almost with impunity . "

    He is himself , however , on more than one occasion , led into the mistake . I ^ or exam ple , citing tho fjicfc of the polecat destroying fifteen turkeys in a night , lie does not attribute that superfluous slaughter to its true cause—Hie excitement of tho animal's destructiveness , but to a presumed gluttony " which existed more in the imagination than in the capacity of enjoyment . " He even goes so far as to assume that the viper is conscious of wie poison of its bite ; and to thin consciousness he attributes tho quietness of the viper after the bite , " aa if waiting for its expected influence . " ¦ hlaowhore he says : — It was something like a soundly-reasoned conclusion in an IOaglc , thai ; the shell " ' <¦ Tortoise , which resisted the efforts of his hill , would he broken by a fall from 11 tfreat height ; and according 1 to 'Pliny ( 1 . x . e . 31 ) tho poet / lOschylus sullered from this experimental philosophy—the bird dropping its prey on him bald head , in the 1 )(> li « 'f that it was a atone . "

    rhifl vulgar error was ridiculed by uh many months ago , and we were nurpi-iHC ( i at finding it in tho pages of no excellent a work as this . In tho urnt place-, do eagles feed on tortoises V In tho second place , would an ° aglo mintuko a man ' s bald head for a stone ? In tho third , to whom , did tho ongle communicate tho fact of his mistake P Suppose tho poet ' s death * ' ° ally to have occurred an related , in not the explanation of the oaglo ' a intentions purely gratuitous V

    From among the many passages we had marked for extract we select this on

    THE SONG OP BIKDS . " It may be from an association of our ideas of the song of birds with the beauty of spring and glory of summer , that the former has been supposed to constitute in a particular manner an expression of amorous feeling , or an exuberance of joy ; , and the supposition has derived some countenance from the fact that the utterance of their liveliest expression is reserved for the season When all nature is beginning to exult in the renewal of the spring . But , analogous as this is to similar principles in the human race , ( by consulting the emotions or impressions of which we are sometimes best enabled to interpret our observations on the native actions of the lower animals , but by which we are also liable to form a wrong judgment , ) tho conclusion from other particulars tends to the idea , that , in most cases , it is neither love nor joy that swells the note . In autumn , when many of the smaller birds are

    engaged in shifting their residence , a little party may be seen flitting along , without any intention of resting on their way ; but the call of a bird placed for that purpose in a cage will arrest their progress , and if left to themselves a contest is the result . In these cases it is scarcely possible to imagine a previously existing cause of antipathy ; and therefore we must suppose that a challenge was intended and accepted : excited by such a feeling of alienation or insult as there is proof of having often arisen between birds in captivity and those who are in the enjoyment of freedom . In a wild condition , birds of the same species will not sing near each other ; and if the approach be too close , and the courage equal , a battle follows . Redbreasts offer a frequent example of this ; and if an intruder ventures on the accustomed domain , the song may bo low and warbling , or apparently reserved or

    suppressed ; and neither of them will appear to condescend to notice the efforts of its competitor . But this restraint cannot endure long : the music becomes more developed ; it rises higher ; the attack is sudden , and the fight so violent , that they fall to the ground together ; and one is killed , or both may be taken with the hand . Two birds , even if bred in captivity , will not sing in the same cage ; and when two cages are hung near each other , in order to secure a song , it is necessary to place a screen between them , and hide them from each other ; for , without this , the bird who is conscious of inferior powers either of song or prowess will not venture to excite the anger of its opponent by an effort of music . For a similar reason the confidence of superior powers elicits a louder and more frequent strain from the sole songster , which it is not difficult to interpret as the exultation of triumph and insult .

    "' A frienH of mine / says Mr . Bold , in the Zoologist , ' vol . ii ., 'informs me that by placing a mirror before an old male mule in his possession , he could at any time be induced to sing , beginning with a gentle cadence , and gradually rising as he became excited : at length he poured forth his notes with rapidity and vehemence , and if not prevented by a timely removal of the mirror , dashed madly forward to the attack of his imaginary rival . That his song was not one of love was proved by introducing a bird of the opposite sex into the cage ; for , after singing his usual song , he attacked it with fury , and would soon have destroyed it , had it not been removed . The same party kept a Redbreast in confinement for nine months . On placing a mirror near its cage , it immediately expressed the recognition of its fellow by a particular low and sweet note , and would give vent to its satisfaction in a loud song . In fine weather this bird was generally placed outside , and daily carolled his gay notes to his own image reflected from the window . '

    " How large a share of the spirit of contention for supremacy in musical strength and duration is engaged in such competitions , will appear from the methods employed to urge a pair of Canaries to vie with each other . The scraping of a pan , or the noise of a crying child , excites them to exertion , or revives it when it begins to droop ; and how much passion is contained in these modulations may be learned from the tale of the Nightingale who entered into competition with the instrument of the musician , and fell exhausted at the foot of the player . " Again : —> "A bird in captivity has been known to sing more and louder than usual , until it fell dead at the bottom of the cage , to solicit attention to its deficiency of food , from tho want of which it at last perished ; and another instance is related where the little creature sung earnestly when surrounded by the flames of a burning 1 ] 1 ouse . " Wo quit this delightful volumo with an emphatic recommendation of it to the attention of our readers .

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    JULIAN FANE'S POEMS . Poems , liy Iho Honourable- Julian Fane ? . Pickering . It was gaily and yet profoundly said by Goethe that wo have to endure an immense amount of flinging and talking from men who in ' spite of all their hoarseness and fatigue really sivy nothing that they might not have said : — Was vielc sin ^ en und sagon Dhh niiissen wir eben ortragen ! Ihr ( 5 uten - grosser und kleiner—Ihr siiif ^ t ouch miide und matt ; Und shuit dock kriner

    Ala was cr zu saijcn hat ! This fundamental distinction of Hong from Speech we are always enforcing , when young poets come in our way . Tho Poet , and . not simply a man of poetical taste with Ihe " accomplishment of vorso , " is primarily u Singer . If ho be not that ho is nothing . All tho talent in the world , all tho culture of colleges , will not avail him . If he can sa // the thought that is in him more clearly and more- eifootivoly than he can ' situ / it , he has chosen the wrong vehicle in choosing vor . se . There i . s a certain undcfinuhlc something—an accent , it may bo , giving hints of

    undeveloped melody—in the pages of this modest little volume , which makes us puiiso in delivering a verdict . That Mr . Julian Mine is a Singer we will not nay ; neither will wo say that lie may not develope into one . Ho is the author of a l'rizo J . ' ooin—which , considered as an isolated , fact , is somewhat damnatory ; and many pages of this volume boar on them tho traces of what may bo called tho " ' . l . ' rize pooin state of mind , " namely , ripe , deliberate ., mediocrity . On tho other hand , it may bo said TomvyHon himself is tho author of a LVizo l . ' oein ; nay more , he wrote in early lifo poems both inodiocro and trivial . If , therefore , Mr . . Julian Fane exhibith tho versifier ' a easy acquiescence in commonplace imagery , and indolently

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    September 4 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 855

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1852, page 855, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1950/page/19/