The village slept, the world was still,
The grass with dew-drops glistened;
But there were other hearts to thrill,-
The hearts of those that listened.
Among them was the Child of Song,'
Who May-day's beauties numbered;
By all, these feathered poets long

Will make May-night remembered.

Birds are now building their nests, or laying their eggs, and their whole deportment seems altered. Little mindful of themselves at other times, they now appear as anxious parents, or wary architects; watching an intruder near their haunts with suspicion, the operation of building is suspended, and even the food for their young ones withheld; or they steal to their nests through obscure passages, or by threading or winding a way amidst the neighbouring bushes. The markings or colouring of eggs are often very variable even in the same species and nest; those with one colour, most generally retain it with only shades of distinction; but when there are blotchings or spots, they vary so much, even in the same nest, that no permanent character can be given of them: those of the house-sparrow vary as much from each other, as any bird we possess. The eggs of marine birds are particularly liable to these variations; those of the guillemot (colymbus troile) are very remarkably unlike each other. That these speckings and colourings are to answer some design, we must conclude, because they always preserve something like a distinction through ages; and though their marks do not form a permanent character, yet the shadings of one species never wander to confound another. The plumage varies but little, and probably is the same at this hour as it originally was. The egg of the cuckoo is perhaps the smallest laid by any bird of its size, not being larger than that of a lark; and thus the little bird in whose nest it is deposited has no suspicion of the intrusion, but hatches it in conjunction with her own.

The insect tribe continue to add to their numbers; among these may be named several kinds of moths and butterflies (papilio atalanta, cardamines, ægeria, lathonia, &c.)

A few butterflies that have passed the inclement season in the chrysalis state, are seen on the wing, early in May; soon after which the female lays her eggs singly on the leaves of nettles. Consult T.T. for 1821, p. 153.

Other insects now observed, are field crickets (gryllus campestris), the chaffer or may-bug (scarabaus melolontha), and the forest-fly (hippobosca equina), which so much annoys horses and cattle. The female wasp (vespa vulgaris) appears at the latter end of the month. Nothing can afford greater amusement than to watch the members of this industrious community in their daily journies from flower to flower. See T. T. for 1821, pp. 155, 156, for a poetical catalogue of the flowers and plants from which bees extract their honey, with illustrative notes.

This is the season of beauty in the garden; every thing in nature is young and fresh, what Gray calls 'Nature's tenderest, freshest, green.' The blowing of the lilacs and laburnums may be said to be the glory of the garden and the shrubbery, delighting both the sight and the smell.

Soft tints of sweet May-morn,-when day's bright god
Looks smiling from behind delicious mists;
Throwing his slant rays on the glistening grass,
Where 'gainst the rich deep green the cowslip hangs
His elegant bells of purest gold :—the pale
Sweet perfumed primrose lifts its face to heaven
Like the full, artless gaze of infancy:-
The little ray-crowned daisy peeps beneath,
When the tall neighbour grass, heavy with dew,
Bows down its head beneath the fresh'ning breeze;
Where oft in long dark lines the waving trees
Throw their soft shadows on the sunny fields;
Where, in the music-breathing hedge, the thorn
And pearly white May-blossom, full of sweets,

Hang out the virgin flag of Spring, entwined
With dripping honeysuckles, whose sweet breath
Sinks to the heart-recalling, with a sigh,

Dim recollected feelings of the days

Of youth and early love.

Atherstone's Last Days of Herculaneum. About the commencement of the month, the flowers of the lily of the valley (convallaria maialis) and the flowers of the chesnut tree (fagus castanea) begin to open; the tulip tree (liriodendron tulipfera) has its leaves quite out, and the flowers of the Scotch fir, the honeysuckle, the beech, and the oak, are in full bloom.

So thine oak by some fair streamlet's side

Waves its broad arms, and spreads its leafy pride;
Tow'rs from the earth, and, rearing to the skies
Its conscious strength, the tempest's wrath defies:
Its ample branches shield the fowls of air,
To its cool shades the panting herds repair.
The treach'rous current works its noiseless way,--
The fibres loosen, and its roots decay:
Prostrate the beauteous ruin lies; and all
That shared its shelter, perish in its fall.

The whitethorn, or hawthorn (cratogus oxycantha), emphatically called May, is expected to be in flower on the 1st of this month, but it is only so in very forward seasons. There are different kinds of it, the white and the pink, growing in small bunches all along the slender twigs, or rods, of the tree or bush, which form, with the bright green and jagged leaves, some of the most beautiful wreaths that the country can boast.

The HAWTHOorn.

On summer's breast the hawthorn shines
In all the lily's bloom,

Mid slopes where th' evening flock reclines,
Where glows the golden broom.

When yellow autumn decks the plain,
The hawthorn's boughs are green,

Amid the ripening fields of grain
In emerald brightness seen.

A night of frost, a day of wind,
Have stript the forest bare:

The hawthorn too that blast shall find,
Nor shall that spoiling spare.

But red with fruit, that hawthorn bough,
Tho' leafless, yet will shine;
The blackbird far its hues shall know,
As lapwing knows the vine.

Be thus thy youth as lilies gay,
Thy manhood vigorous green;
And thus let fruit bedeck thy spray
Mid age's leafless scene.

The mulberry-tree (morus nigra) puts forth its leaves. As this tree is in leaf in England generally after the silk-worm is hatched, the difficulty of obtaining it as food for this animal in the spring is evident.-See some novel information on this subject under the article SILK WORM, in Mr. Jennings's Family Cyclopædia.

The garden now affords rhubarb, green apricots, and green gooseberries, for making pies and tarts.

The orchis (orchis mascula) will now be found in moist pastures, distinguished by its broad black spotted leaves, and spike of large purple flowers; it frequently grows in patches of several yards square. Its roots afford the highly nutritious substance, the salep of the shops. The walnut (juglans regia) has its flowers in full bloom.

The banks of rills and shaded hedges are ornamented with the pretty tribe of speedwells, particularly the germander speedwell (veronica chamadrys), the field mouse-ear (myosotis arvensis), the dove'sfoot crane's-bill (geranium molle), and the red campion (lychnis dioica): the first two of azure blue, and the last two of rose colour, intermixing their flowers with attractive variety.

The lilac (syringa vulgaris), the barberry (berberis vulgaris), and the maple (acer campestre), are now in flower. At the latter end of the month, rye (secale hybernum) is in ear; the mountain ash (sorbus aucu

paria), laburnum (cytisus laburnum), the guelder rose (viburnum opulus), clover (trifolium pratense), columbines (aquilegia vulgaris), with their singular and fantastic nectaries, the alder (rhamnus frangula), the wild chervil (chorophyllium temulum), and the wayfaring tree, or wild guelder-rose, have their flowers full blown. The various species of meadow grass are now in flower. The buttercup (ranunculus bulbosus) spreads over the meadows; the cole-seed (brassica napus) in corn-fields, bryony (brionia dioica), the arum, or cuckoo-pint, in hedges, the Tartarian honeysuckle (lonicera tartarica), and the corchorus Japonica, now show their flowers. The flowers of the garden rose begin to open.

The ROSE BUD.

From the German of Goëthe.

A Rose, that bloomed the road-side by,
Caught a young vagrant's wanton eye;
The child was gay, the morn was clear,
The child would see the rose-bud near:
He saw the blooming flow'r.

My little rose, my rose-bud dear!

My rose that blooms the road-side near!

The child exclaimed, 'My hands shall dare,
Thee, rose, from off thy stem to tear!
The rose replied, If I have need,
My thorns shall make thy fingers bleed-
'Thy rash design give o’er.'

My little rose, my rose-bud dear!

My rose that blooms the road-side near!

Regardless of its thorny spray,

The child would tear the rose away;
The rose bewailed with sob and sigh,
But all in vain-no help was nigh

To quell the urchin's pow'r.

My little rose, my rose-bud dear!

My rose that bloomed the road-side near 1!

The amateurs of tulips are now rewarded for all their care and pains, by the splendid show this flower

' New Monthly Magaine, October 1822, p. 309.