in the evening, being frequently flitting about when the owl and bat are visible, and awakes so soon in the morning, that little rest seems required by it.-The cheerful melody of the wren is the next we hear, as it bustles from its ivied roost, and we note its gratulation to the young-eyed day, when twilight almost hides the little minstrel from our sight.-The sparrow roosts in holes, and under the eaves of the rick or shed, where the light does not so soon enter, and hence is rather a tardy mover. It retires early to rest.-The blackbird quits its leafy roost in the ivied ash; its chink-chink is heard in the hedge; and mounting on some neighbouring oak, with mellow sober voice, it gratulates the coming day. 'The plain-song cuckoo grey,' from some tall tree now tells its tale. The lark is in the air, and the 'martin twitters from her earth-built shed,' all the choristers are tuning in the grove; and amid such tokens of awakening pleasure, it becomes difficult to note priority of voice. These are the matin-voices of the Summer season: in Winter a cheerless chirp, or a hungry twit, is all we hear; the families of voice are away, or silent; we have little to note, and perhaps as little inclination to observe." TO THE TURTLE-DOVE. DEEP in the wood, thy voice I list, and love D. CONWAY. The note of this elegant species, Columba Turtur, is singularly tender and plaintive in addressing his mate, the male makes use of a variety of winning attitudes, cooing at the same time in the most gentle and soothing accents: on which account the Turtle-dove has been represented in all ages, as the most perfect emblem of connubial attachment and constancy."-Bewick. From Mrs. C. Smith's beautiful poem of the Truant Dove, we quote the following lines, being descriptive of this bird : O my dear love! you sought not then to range, Of mountain ash, you fondly could compare Those charms were mine. Alas! I gave them all,-&c. &c. THE TULIP. 'Tis beautiful, most beautiful! most splendidly it shines, Her gifts of gorgeous beauty, on this bright and stately flower, Of sweet and innate fragrance, when their leaves are clos'd in death. When frowning o'er the sultry sky, the thunder cloud is shed, Beneath the storm and gushing shower the tulip hangs its head, While from the wild blue violet, or sweet Egyptian weed, A fresher burst of fragrance to its fury will succeed. So the innate worth of soul, and the loveliness of mind, S. H. The Tulip was introduced from the eastern part of the globe, and derives its name from a Persian word, which signifies a turban. It is well known that the Tulip became, about the year 1635, the object of a trade unparalleled in the history of commercial speculation. All the great cities of Holland became infected with this Tulipomania, and the evil rose to such a pitch, that the Dutch authorities were at length under the necessity of interfering to prevent this species of gambling. See an amusing paper on this subject in the Tatler: No. 218. Enrich'd among its spines with golden flowers, Spreads its dark mantle, (where the bees delight MRS. C. SMITH. TO A HEDGE-HOG; SEEN IN A FREQUENTED PATH. WHEREFORE should man, or thoughtless boy Is but the beetle and the fly, The swarming insects of the wood. Should man, to whom his God has given To use his power in waging war Poor creature! to the woods resort, MRS. C. SMITH. "When we consider how many creatures of superstitious dread or veneration, and what multitudes, even in this enlightened age and country, are sacrificed annually to mistaken notions of their mischievous properties, reason and humanity are alike shocked; and we deeply deplore the prevalence of errors which the zealous promulgation of more correct ideas and liberal sentiments can alone effectually remedy. That useful bird, the White Owl, which, on account of the great number of mice it destroys, ought to be carefully protected by the farmer, is frequently looked upon with terror as a forerunner of death, which it is supposed to announce by its loud and dissonant screams; and a small coleopterous insect, the Anobium tessellatum of entomologists, has obtained the appellation of Death-Watch, from a fancied connexion between the ticking sound it produces, and that awful event. The Raven and Magpie are imagined by persons of weak intellects and timid dispositions, to prognosticate evil; and this notion has been extended and perpetuated by the allusions made to it in numerous legendary tales, and in the writings of our Poets. To take away the life of a Swallow or Martin, or to disturb their nests, is regarded as an unlucky event, portending disaster to the unfeeling aggressor; and the Redbreast and Wren owe much of their security to popular prepossessions, equally without any rational foundation. Many birds, which subsist entirely on insects, as the Cuckoo, Redstart, and Flycatcher, are shot by ignorant gardeners and nurserymen, indiscriminately with those species which feed principally on the seeds of plants and other vegetable productions. The Goatsucker and Hedge-hog are falsely accused of sucking the teats of animals, and a price, usually paid out of the parish rates, is still given for the latter in many parts of England; and those beautiful and harmless reptiles, the Common Snake and Blindworm, are destroyed without pity, upon the groundless supposition that they are venomous.' These are only a few instances among many, of the pernicious consequences which arise from an ignorance of Natural History."-Mr. Blackwall, on the Instinct of Birds: Edinb. Phil. Jour., vol. 14. THE HEATH-COCK. GooD-morrow to thy sable beak And glossy plumage dark and sleek, A maid there is in yonder tower, |