or tone; it is by some difference in this organ, that animals are enabled to make those peculiar sounds which characterize them, and to purr, as the cat; neigh, as the horse; bark, as the dog; roar, as the lion; squeak, as the mouse; or low, as the ox.

The larynx of the feathered race is peculiarly adapted to form that sweet and varied music, emphatically the poor man's minstrelsy, which so often makes our woods and fields "vocal, with concert of sweet sounds." The immense power of voice, with which the feathered tribes make the forests ring, has often been a matter of remark and astonishment. Our astonishment is changed into admiration, when we learn that the lungs of birds are connected with aerial cells, which fill the whole cavity of the body; that, more than this, the very bones are hollow, communicating even with the quills, so that a bird's entire physical structure is nothing more than a living instrument of exquisite workmanship.

The bagpipe is a musical wind instrument, much used by the Highlanders of Scotland, in the performance of their wild but pleasing airs. It consists of a leathern bag communicating with the air by a tube closed with a valve, and pipes of different caliber, into which the air is forced by the performer. The lungs, trachea and larynx of birds, form a complete natural bagpipe; the lungs are the bag, and supply the wind, and the trachea and cells are the pipes. The larynx of birds is divided into two sections; one being placed at the lower part of the trachea, immediately above the branches to the lungs, and the other occupying the usual position. The lower opening, then, is the reed or mouth-piece, which produces the simple sound, and the upper opening, with its muscles, constitutes the finger-holes, which modify the simple sound into a variety of distinct notes.

We find, however, a considerable diversity in the shape and length of the trachea, but of this, it is not necessary to speak. The notes of soft-billed birds are deeper and more mellowtoned than those of the hard-billed species, which are cheerful and rapid. This is owing to the greater width of the trachea in the former class, and the fact that they sing more from the lower part of the throat, as does the nightingale.

Perhaps there is no bird more entitled to our notice, from the vast scope and variations of its voice than the manytongued, or Mocking bird. Indeed, I thought a delineation of this feathered ventriloquist, worthy a place in these pages. Here it is:

The natural note of this bird is delightfully musical, but beyond this, it possesses a talent for imitating the notes and aries of other animals, so exactly, as to deceive the very individuals that it attempts to mock. Imitating the warblings of

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little birds, it decoys them near it, and then pouring upon them, the screams of the hawk or some other bird of prey, drives them away with all speed. Does the school-boy whistle some familiar air, as he saunters along the copse-lined path? He starts at hearing the merry measures of "Yankee Doodle," returned, as accurately as a very echo, from the neighboring thicket. Does the laborer trundle his creaking barrow over the rough ground? Another vehicle equally clamorous, swells the concert, creaking and rattling along, apparently in the adjacent swamp. In short, the Mocking bird is the wag of his race and the pest of his neighbors.

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The most extraordinary instance of imitation in the human voice, consists in the art of ventriloquism. By this, the titioner can so modify his voice, as to imitate the different tones of several persons conversing at a distance, and not only to imitate the cries of dogs, cats, and almost every other animal, but also to throw the sound from whatever quarter he chooses. Now issuing in smothered accents from beneath the floor; now of individuals engaged in violent altercation, in the recesses of a side-board, and now, faintly imploring release from a quart bottle standing upon the table.

An individual is said to have amused himself, several years ago, by frequenting the fish-market at Edinburgh, and making a finny captive appear to speak, and give the lie to its vender, upon her affirming that it was fresh and caught in the morning; the fish replying, as often as she made the assertion, "I have been dead a week, and you know it!"

Ventriloquism has given rise to a variety of superstitions among those who are ignorant of the power of the vocal apparatus, and the great skill which may be attained by practice, and perhaps in some instances, aided by a peculiar formation of the Larynx and its accompanying muscles. Ven

triloquists themselves, have attempted to explain it, but have never been successful; and though the name, ventriloquism, is still retained, it is by no means applicable, meaning, as it does, "chest or abdominal speaking." That this art is of a date as ancient as Grecian and Roman glory, employed in the temples of their Gods, to give the responses, apparently issuing from the marble lips of the idol, cannot be doubted.

The scientific, at the present day, seem to coincide in the opinion, that a peculiar formation of the vocal organs, is not absolutely essential. Indeed, a careful examination of the subject, convinces me, that the full, free and daily exercise of this part of the physical system, with a view to its development, is attended, (as it ever has been,) with results far more wonderful and important than any of which the ventriloquist can boast; that it gives depth and tone to what is naturally the mere shadow of voice; that it transforms the distressed stammerer into the eloquent orator; that it adds strength to the strong; quickens hesitancy and difficulty of utterance, into readiness and facility, and almost unlooses the tongue of the dumb. We are acquainted with men, who, from a close attention to the vast variety of articulations and tones, and from a perfect command of the muscles of the Larynx, are able to produce acoustic delusions, not less extraordinary than the identical jugglers themselves, and this, too, without laying the least claim to be considered ventriloquists. The celebrated Alexander could imitate three persons in conversation, and so skilfully swell and diminish the sounds, as almost to compel you, against the evidence of your eyes, to believe the speakers, now approaching, and now receding. Our appreciation of the distance and nature of a sound is formed from its intensity and quality; thus a deep, heavy sound, gradually increasing in

power, gives us the idea of strength and proximity. For this reason, persons are frequently alarmed at a peal of thunder, though its cloudy home may be ascertained to a mathematical certainty, to be many miles distant. So when the sound from a known body, is more faint and indistinct, than when in our immediate vicinity, we are impressed with the idea that it is far off. As when the mountain or the forest only presents a dim outline to the eye, we are assured that many steps must be taken, ere we reach it, so indistinctness of sounds produces a similar impression. Of these principles, the ventriloquist avails himself, and by a skilful management of his voice leads us at once into error. Imagination also, may have a considerable influence in producing the desired effect. Dugald Stewart gives some striking instances. Among others, he mentions a certain violinist, who directed the attention of his auditors to the instrument whence he seemed to draw out the delightful sounds, with many a dexterous flourish of the bow, while in fact, every tone proceeded from his own mouth. Mr. Carey, who imitated the whistling of the wind through a crevice, sometimes practised the deception in the corner of a coffee-house, when to his great amusement, one gentleman would put on his hat; another button his coat, and a third, perhaps, would look about with the evident intention of shutting out the intruder that so annoyed him. In the former instance, the eye assisted to make the delusion perfect; in the latter, the association between the sound of the fitful gust and a sensation of cold, was so strong, that one was almost a necessary accompaniment of the other. With regard to the hollow tones of the ventriloquist, which the ignorant deem supernatural, Brewster remarks that they are produced by a powerful action of the ab. dominal muscles. Ventriloquism, then, may be considered as