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birds, kindly sits by her side, and sings her his sweetest songs. When she is obliged to quit the nest in search of food, he takes her place, and keeps the eggs warm till her return.

THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN.

Gem-like bird, with thy golden crest,
Like lovely visions rarely seen,
Seldom we find thy place of rest,

Shrouded beneath the foliage green.
'Mid the dark groves of fir and pine,
Where chiefly thou lovest to dwell,
Sweet is that fairy note o f thine,
As the chime of a silver bell;

That gently tells in a season of flowers,
Of the rapid flight of the pleasant hours ;
And a single leaf of the forest tree,
Will serve as a sheltering screen for thee;
Concealing thee safely from every eye,
Until danger and fear have pass'd thee by.

Small as thou art, thou gem-like bird,
Yet thou hast made thy nest on high;
And there thy warbling voice is heard,
Singing thy children's lullaby.
Lovely bird, with thy golden crown,

A kind and tender nurse art thou,

Making thy nest of moss and down,

And hanging it on the bending bough.

There, rocked by the wave of the Zephyr's wings,
Amid the green branches it lightly swings;
And a few clustering leaves of the forest-tree,
Will serve to shelter thy cradle and thee;
Concealing thee safely from every eye,
Until danger and fear have pass'd thee by.

ORDER PASSERES.

Willow-Wren.

Motacilla Trochilus.

THIS is a very delicately formed, and beautiful little bird, not so small as the golden-crested wren, but still of fairy dimensions. Its movements are graceful and rapid; and it is in search of its insect prey, that, like the golden-crested wren, it exhibits the greatest agility. It frequents hedges and shrubberies. Should you have the good fortune to possess a retired garden, surrounded by fields and woods, you have a still better chance of seeing these fairy birds in your domains; and may amuse yourselves, as we have often done, with watching them as they glide swiftly about from tree to tree, and from flower to flower. A very pretty sight it is, to see them running rapidly up the trunks of the trees, and the stems of the smaller plants, in search of

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insects, lightly stirring the leaves, and shaking the flower-bells as they pass along. The willowwren does not build its nest in the trees, but on the ground. It is composed of moss and dried grass, and lined with hair and feathers. If you should discover a nest before the young birds are hatched, you will find in it six white eggs, beautifully spotted with red. But do not put your finger on either the nest or eggs, for so keen is the sensibility of this little bird, that if the nest has been touched in her absence, she discovers it, and immediately deserts it, to build another fearful, it should seem, that he who has visited her nest to examine her eggs, may come again when they are hatched, to destroy her young ones, or carry them into captivity.

To the scientific friend from whom we have obtained the details of the furze-wren, we are indebted for the following note on the varieties of the willow-wren :

"Bewick mentions three sorts of willow-wrens, and White (in his History of Selborne) gives interesting descriptions of these birds, but I think it requires further investigation. I have taken much pains to ascertain the fact, and cannot decide quite on there being three sorts. The yellow willow-wren is properly enough described : it is larger, and much yellower in colour, than the

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