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As free to live, and to enjoy that life

As God was free to form them at the first,

Who in his sovereign wisdom made them all.

"The whole subject of humanity to animals is so beautifully and strikingly illustrated in this admirable poem, that no parents ought to be satisfied until their children have that part of it by heart.

'Formyself, my opinion is, that we rarely succeed in a war of utter extermination against animals we proscribe; and even if we could prevail, others more mischievous than those we destroy might multiply, perhaps, from their destruction. We ought, therefore, to be contented to destroy the individuals or masses of them, when they grievously offend, rather than carry on a systematic war against them for their total annihilation. The destructive insects called wire-worms, particularly in lands newly broken up, devour every thing before them; but a large flock of rooks will in half a day destroy a number of them equal, perhaps, to all the inhabitants of Great Britain'. It is thought by many well-informed persons, that the destruction of weasels, and creatures of that description, for the preservation of the game, has increased the number of the field-rat in many parts of England; an animal more dangerously destructive.'

In this month, trouts begin to rise; blood-worms appear in the water; black ants (formica nigra) are observed; the blackbird and the turkey (meleagris gallopavo lay; and house pigeons sit. The greenfinch (loxia chloris) sings; the bat (vespertilio) is seen flitting about, and the viper uncoils itself from its winter sleep. The wheatear (sylvia œnanthe), or English ortolan, again pays its annual visit, leaving England in September. They are found in great numbers about East Bourne, in Sussex, more

1 See also an account of the ivory-billed woodpecker of North America, in pp. 64-66.

than eighteen hundred dozen being annually taken in this neighbourhood. They are usually sold at sixpence a dozen.-See T.T. for 1816, p. 88.

Those birds which have passed the winter in England now take their departure for more northerly regions. The fieldfares (turdus pilaris) travel to Russia, Sweden, and Norway, and even as far as Siberia. They do not arrive in France till December, when they assemble in large flocks of two or three thousand. The red-wing (turdus iliacus), which frequents the same places, eats the same food, and is very similar in manners to the fieldfare, also takes leave of this country for the season.

Soon after, the woodcock (scolopax rusticola) wings its aerial voyage to the countries bordering on the Baltic. Some other birds, as the crane and stork, formerly natives of this island, have quitted it entire-" ly, since our cultivation and population have so rapidly increased.

The phenomena met with relative to the migration of birds, are nearly the same in North America as in Europe. In the new world, at the return of spring numerous species are seen to arrive from the South, some which continue their flight, almost without stopping, to the frigid zone, while others fix themselves during the summer, to build their nests, and bring up their young under a milder climate. In the same manner also, towards the beginning of the cold season, those species which had repaired thither in the spring are seen returning from the North, and going back to pass the winter, followed soon after by all those which had brought up their young families in the less northerly parts of the temperate zone, and which quit them in numerous flocks, when the leaves of the forest begin to fall, and the earth, stripped of its verdure, is about to be covered with frost and snow. Lastly, in both regions equally, when the birds of summer have disappeared, winter brings, to supply their place, vast hordes of those

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Arctic species which love only the cold, but which, forced to quit for a short season the ice of the Pole, hasten to return to it at the first dawn of spring.

Frogs, enlivened by the warmth of spring, rise from the bottom of ponds and ditches, where they have lain torpid during the winter.-See T.T. for 1818, p. 69, and our last volume, p. 81.

The smelt (salmo eperlanus) begins to ascend rivers to spawn, when they are taken in great abundance.

On the 20th the vernal equinox takes place, and all nature feels her renovating sway, and seems to rejoice at the retreat of winter.

The penetrative sun

His force deep-darting to the dark retreat
Of vegetation, sets the streaming power
At large, to wander o'er the verdant earth,
In various hues.-

From the moist meadow to the withered hill,
Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs,
And swells, and deepens, to the cherished eye.
The hawthorn whitens; and the juicy groves
Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees,
Till the whole leafy forest stands displayed,
In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales;
Where the deer rustle through the twining brake,
And the birds sing concealed.

At once arrayed

In all the colours of the flushing year,

By nature's swift and secret-working hand,

The garden glows and fills the liberal air

With lavish fragrance; while the promised fruit,
Lies yet a little embryo, unperceived,

Within its crimson folds.

The sallow (salix) now enlivens the hedges; the aspen (populus tremula), and the alder (alnus betula), have their flowers full blown; the laurustinus (viburnum tinus), and the bay (laurus nobilis) begin to open their leaves. The equinoctial gales are usually most felt, both by sea and land, about this time.

The north-east spreads his rage, and now, shuts up
Within his iron caves, th' effusive south

Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heaven
Breathe the big clouds with vernal showers distent.
At first a dusky wreath they seem to rise,
Scarce staining ether; but by fast degrees,
In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour sails
Along the loaded sky, and mingling deep
Sits on the horizon round a settled gloom,
Not such as wintry storms on mortals shed,
Oppressing life, but lovely, gentle, kind,
And full of every hope and every joy,

The wish of nature.

Our gardens begin now to assume somewhat of a cheerful appearance. Crocuses, exhibiting a rich mixture of yellow and purple, ornament the borders; mezereon is in all its beauty; the little flowers 'with silver crest and golden eye,' daisies, are scattered over dry pastures; and the pilewort (ranunculus ficaria) is seen on the moist banks of ditches. The primrose too (primula veris) peeps from beneath the hedge. The sallow (salix) now enlivens the hedges with its yellow and silver shaggy flowers.

The leaves of honeysuckles are now nearly expanded in our gardens, the buds of the cherry tree (prunus cerasus), the peach (amygdalus persica), the nectarine, the apricot, and the almond (prunus armeniaca), are fully opened in this month. The buds of the hawthorn (cratogus oxycantha) and of the larch tree (pinus larix) begin to open; and the tansy (tanacetum vulgare) emerges out of the ground; ivy-berries are ripe; the coltsfoot (tussilago), the cotton-grass (eriophorum vaginatum), wood spurge (euphorbia amygdaloides), butcher's broom (ruscus aculcatus), the daffodil (pseudonarcissus) in moist thickets, the rush (juncus pilosus), and the spurge laurel (daphne laureola), found in woods, are now in bloom. The common whitlow grass (draba verna) on old walls; the yellow Alpine whitlow grass (draba aizoides) on maritime rocks;

and the mountain pepper-wort (lepidum petræum) among limestone rocks, flower in March.

The sweet violet (viola odorata) sheds its delicious perfumes in this month.'

The VIOLET.

Not from the verdant garden's cultured bound,
That breathes of Pæstum's aromatic gale,

We sprung; but nurslings of the lonely vale,
'Midst woods obscure, and native glooms were found:
'Midst woods and glooms, whose tangled brakes around
Once Venus sorrowing traced, as all forlorn
She sought Adonis, when a lurking thorn

Deep on her foot impressed an impious wound.
Then prone to earth we bowed our pallid flowers,
And caught the drops divine; the purple dyes
Tinging the lustre of our native hue:

Nor summer gales, nor art-conducted showers,
Have nursed our slender forms, but lovers' sighs
Have been our gales, and lovers' tears our dew.2

The gannets or Soland geese (pelicanus bassanus) resort in March to the Hebrides, and other rocky isles of North Britain, to make their nests and lay their eggs.

Much amusement may be derived in this month, as well as in the last, from watching the progress of worms, insects, &c. from torpidity to life, particularly on the edges or banks of ponds.-See T.T. for 1817, p. 53.

In the latter end of March, chickens run about; a brimstone-coloured butterfly (papilio rhamni) appears; black beetles fly about in the evening; and bats issue from their places of concealment. Roach and dace float near the surface of the water, and sport about in pursuit of insects. Daffodils are in flower; peas appear above ground; the sea-kale (crambe maritima), a vegetable somewhat similar

1

The most esteemed sherbet in Turkey, and which is drunk by the Grand Signor himself, is made of violets and sugar.—Hasselquist—Taver➜

nier.

? Lorenzo di Medici, translated by Mr. Roscoe.

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