To climes where soon the winter drear
Shall close the unrejoicing year.
Now with swift wing they skim aloof,
Now settle on the crowded roof,
As counsel and advice to take,
Ere they the chilly north forsake ;-
Then one, disdainful, turned his eye
Upon a red-breast twittering nigh,
And thus began with taunting scorn :-

"Thou household imp, obscure, forlorn!
Through the deep winter's dreary day,
Here dull and shivering shalt thou stay;
Whilst we, who make the world our home,
To softer climes impatient roam,
Where Summer still on some green isle
Rests with her sweet and lovely smile.
Thus speeding far and far away,
We leave behind the shortening day."

""Tis true (the red-breast answered meek),
No other scenes I ask or seek;
To every change alike resigned,

I fear not the cold winter's wind.

When Spring returns, the circling year
Shall find me still contented here;
But whilst my warm affections rest
Within the circle of my nest,

I learn to pity those that roam,
And love the more my humble home."

W. L. Bowles.

5. THE LARK.

LARKS are the only birds that sing during flight. There are a number of different kinds, as the sky-lark, the woodlark, the tit-lark, and the field-lark, all celebrated as songsters; but the most melodious of all is the sky-lark. It is a bird about seven inches in length, with dark plumage on the upper part of the body, and with the breast and the lower part of yellow spotted with black.

The sky-lark commences its song early in spring, and continues it during the whole summer. When it first rises from the earth, its notes are feeble and interrupted; but as it ascends, they gradually swell to their full tone; and long after the bird has reached a height where it is lost to the eye, it still continues to charm the ear with its melody.

THE SKY-LARK.

Bird of the wilderness,

Blithesome and cumberless,

Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea!
Emblem of happiness,

Blest is thy dwelling-place,

O to abide in the desert with thee!

Wild is thy lay and loud,

Far in the downy cloud :
Love gives it energy, love gave it birth.
Where, on thy dewy wing,

Where art thou journeying?

Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth.
O'er fell and fountain sheen,

O'er moor and mountain green,

O'er the red streamer that heralds the day,

Over the cloudlet dim,

Over the rainbow's rim,

Musical cherub, soar, singing, away!
Then, when the gloaming comes,

Low in the heather blooms

Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be!
Emblem of happiness,

Blest is thy dwelling-place,

O to abide in the desert with thee!

Hogg.

6. THE CUCKOO.

THE cuckoo is a bird about fourteen inches in length, with plumage of a pale-blue on the head, neck, and back, and white crossed with lines of black on the breast and belly.

It visits England early in the spring,-its well known note being heard about the middle of April, and ceasing at the end of June.

Hail, beauteous stranger of the grove,

Thou messenger of spring!

Now Heaven repairs thy rural seat,

And woods thy welcome sing!

What time the daisy decks the green,

Thy certain voice we hear:
Hast thou a star to guide thy path,
Or mark the rolling year?

Delightful visitant! with thee

I hail the time of flowers,

And hear the sound of music sweet

From birds among the bowers.

The school-boy wandering through the wood,

To pull the primrose gay,

Starts, the new voice of spring to hear,

And imitates thy lay.

Soon as the pea puts on its bloom,

Thou fliest thy vocal vale,

An annual guest in other lands,
Another spring to hail.

Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green,

Thy sky is ever clear;

Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,

No winter in thy year.

Oh, could I fly, I'd fly with thee!
We'd make with social wing

Our annual visit o'er the globe,

Companions of the spring.

Logan.

The most remarkable thing about the cuckoo is, that it constructs no nest for itself, and never hatches its own eggs, but deposits them in the nests of other birds, very frequently in that of the hedge-sparrow. It appears to be endued with the faculty of discerning what species of birds are suitable nursing-mothers for its disregarded eggs and young, and deposits them only under their care,— thus instancing in a striking manner the operation of that wonderful faculty called "instinct," which the Creator has bestowed on the lower animals. When the cuckoo is hatched, it turns the young hedge-sparrows out of the nest, and remains itself in it, the sole care of its fosterparents. When sufficiently fledged, it takes a final leave,

often pursued by other little birds, who show an inclination to revenge themselves on this usurper of the rights of the infant hedge-sparrows.

THE CUCKOO.

Whence is the magic pleasure of the sound?
How do we long recall the very tree

Or bush near which we stood, when on the ear
The unexpected note, cuckoo! again,

And yet again, came down the budding vale?
It is the voice of Spring among the trees;
It tells of lengthening days, of coming blooms;
It is the symphony of many a song.

But, there, the stranger flies close to the ground,
With hawk-like pinion, of a leaden blue.
Poor wanderer! from hedge to hedge she flies,
And trusts her offspring to another's care:
The sooty-plumed hedge-sparrow frequent acts
The foster-mother, warming into life

The youngling, destined to supplant her own.
Meanwhile the cuckoo sings her idle song,
Monotonous, yet sweet, now here, now there,
Herself but rarely seen; nor does she cease
Her changeless note, until the broom, full blown,
Give warning that her time for flight is come.
Thus, ever journeying on, from land to land,
She, sole of all the innumerous feathered tribes,
Passes a stranger's life, without a home.

7. THE NIGHTINGALE.

Grahame.

THE nightingale is a bird about six inches in length; and though celebrated as a songster, it cannot boast of

K