Sometimes outstretched in very idleness, Go eddying round; and small birds how they fare, And how the woods, berries and worms provide Then stop and gaze-then turn they know not why, To mark the structure of a plant or tree, And all fair things of earth-how fair they be! G. LAMB. The awful stillness and solitude of a forest are thus described by Mr. GISBORNE:' I would speak The calm that stills your wilds-their guest o'erspreads Ye when with bloody arm infuriate Rome, Chaced the firm band, whom Truth forbade to yield, My thoughts from earth, and point them to the skies! Nature having perfected her seeds, her next care Ꮓ is to disperse them: the seed cannot answer its purpose while it remains confined in the capsule. After the seeds, therefore, are ripened, the pericarpium opens to let them out; and the opening is not like an accidental bursting, but, for the most part, is according to a certain rule in each plant. Some seeds which are furnished with hooks or spines, attach themselves to the rough coats of animals, and thus promote their dispersion. Others are contained in berries, and, being swallowed by birds, are again committed, without injury, to the earth in various places.-See T.T. for 1814, p. 269, and for 1815, p. 296. Hips, haws, sloes, and blackberries, now adorn our hedges; and the berries of the barberry (berberis vulgaris), bryony (tamus communis), honeysuckle, elder, holly, woody-nightshade, and privet (ligustrum vulgare), afford a valuable supply of food for many of the feathered race, while passing their winter with us. About the middle of the month, the common martin disappears; and, shortly afterwards, the smallest kind of swallow, the sand-martin, migrates. The Royston or hooded crow (corvus cornix) arrives from Scotland and the northern parts of England, being driven thence by the severity of the season. It destroys lambs, and young partridges and moor fowl, and is almost as mischievous as the raven. The woodcock returns, and is found on our eastern coasts. Various kinds of waterfowl make their appearance; and, about the middle of the month, wild geese leave the fens, and go to the rye lands, to devour the young corn. Rooks sport and dive, in a playful manner, before they go to roost, congregating in large numbers. Stares assemble in the fen countries, in vast multitudes, and, perching on the reeds, render them unfit for thatching, and thus materially injure the property of the farmer. The ground is covered, about this time, with spiders' webs, crossing the path from shrub to shrub, and floating in the air. This gossamer appearance is noticed at length in T.T. for 1817, p. 298. Among the flowers which are still usually in blow, in this month, is the holy-oak, Michaelmas daisy, stocks, nasturtian, marigold, mignionette, lavender, wall-flower, red hips, china rose, virginia stock, heart's ease, laurustinus, rocket, St. John's wort, periwinkle, &c. The hedges are now ornamented with the wreaths and festoons of the scarlet berries of the black briony; and now and then, that last 'pale promise of the waning year,' the wild rose, meets the eye. As flowers now decay, and the bees cannot procure any farther support, this is the season for taking the honey. To obtain this precious article, the industrious collectors are usually destroyed with the fumes of burning brimstone. See a pretty Elegy to the Bee,' by Dr. Wolcott, in T.T. for 1817, p. 303. The weather in October is peculiarly favourable to the sports of the field, and hunting and coursing are now at their height, as little damage is committed on the farmer's grounds after the gathering of the harvest. HUNTING SONG. Waken lords and ladies gay, On the mountain dawns the day, All the jolly chace is here, With hawk, and horse, and hunting spear; Hounds are in their couples yelling, Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling; Merrily, merrily, mingle they, 'Waken lords and ladies gay.' Waken lords and ladies gay, The mist has left the mountain gray, Waken lords and ladies gay, Louder, louder, chaunt the lay, TIME, stern huntsman! who can baulk, WALTER SCOTT. The taking of wild-fowl commences, by Act of Parliament, on the 1st of October, and the decoybusiness is at the greatest height about the end of the month. Great numbers of wild ducks and other waterfowl are annually caught in the extensive marsh lands of Lincolnshire in this way.-See T.T. for 1814, p. 275. The principal harvest of apples is about the beginning of this month; and the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Somersetshire, and Devonshire, are busily employed in the making of cyder and perry. Herefordshire is particularly famous as a cider country. October is the great month for brewing beer, whence the name applied to very strong beer of OLD OCTOBER. In this month also is the great potatoe harvest. The corn harvest being over, the stone-pickers go out again. The sowing of wheat is generally completed in this month: when the weather is too wet for this occupation, the farmer ploughs up the stubble fields for winter fallows. Acorns are sown at this season, and the planting of forest and fruit trees takes place. To sowe wheat and rie awhile take the paine, And tread drie I advise thee. As heere Apollo, Python quels, Whose popsoned panch with bane aboundes, With cancred grudge, that all confoundes. From Walton's Angler,' a delightful book to all admirers of simplicity of manners and rustic scenery, as well as to mere anglers, we select the following pretty ANGLER'S SONG." Oh the gallant fisher's life, It is the best of any; 'Tis full of pleasure, void of strife, Are but toys; Lawful is: For our skill Breeds no ill, But content and pleasure. In a morning up we rise To and fro,- At our backs,--- As the Thames, If we have the leisure. When we please to walk abroad, For our recreation, In the fields is our abode, Full of delectation; Where in a brook, With a hook, Or a lake, Fish we take, |