CONTAINING

A POPULAR DESCRIPTION

OF THE

FEATHERED SONGSTERS OF BRITAIN;

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THEIR

Babits, Baunts, and Characteristic Traits.

INTERSPERSED WITH

CHOICE PASSAGES FROM THE POETS AND QUOTATIONS FROM EMINENT
NATURALISTS.

EDITED BY H. G. ADAMS,

Author of "Flowers: their Moral, Language, and Poetry."
"A Story of the Seasons," &c., &c.

With Twelve Colored Illustrations on Stone,

BY EDWARD GILKS.

"Children of song! ye birds that dwell in air,
And stole your notes from angels' lyres, and first
In levee of the morn with eulogy

Ascending, hail the advent of the dawn."-POLLOK.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED FOR THE PROPRIETORS, BY

W. S. ORR & Co., AMEN CORNER, PATERNOSTER ROW;
AND NORTH JOHN STREET, LIVERPOOL.

J. M'GLASHAN, DUBLIN; AND J. MENZIES, EDINBURGH.

1851.

189. C. 22.

CHATHAM:

PRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR,

WATTS' PLACE

ΤΟ

MADEMOISELLE JENNY LIND,

THE UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED QUEEN OF SONG,

THIS VOLUME

IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,

AS MUCH OUT OF ADMIRATION FOR THOSE

AMIABLE AND BENEVOLENT QUALITIES

WHICH DISTINGUISH HER,

AS FOR THE SUPEREMINENT VOCAL POWERS

WITH WHICH SHE IS GIFTED.

Dedicatory Sonnet.

"Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould
Breathe such divine, enchanting ravishment?"

'Tis thine to wake the sympathetic chords,

MILTON.

That slumber in each heart not wholly dead;
Thine is a power more eloquent than words;
Thine is a soul that hath on music fed,
Till it hath grown like one that's nourished

By food celestial:-all thy life accords,

And all thine acts in harmony are wed,

And wealth, and love, and praise, are thy rewards:
But more than this-the inward consciousness

Of spending well the means, to thee assigned,
And not alone to please!—to aid, and bless
The poor and suffering of human kind.
Great as thy gifts, thy bounties are; in thee
Music bears sway with mild PHILANTHROPY !

PREFACE.

DE are all lovers of birds-song birds especially! How can we help being so? They are at once the most lovely, and innocent, and joyous of God's creatures. It is good for us to cherish this love,-healthful to our souls, as well as our bodies :

"To go abroad rejoicing in the joy

Of beautiful and well-created things.
To thrill with the rich melody of birds,
Living their life of sunshine:

To see, and hear, and breathe the evidence,
Of God's deep wisdom in the natural world."

Therefore, would we earnestly invite all and sundry to ramble with us through the green mead, and shady woodland, by croft and hedgerow, stream and waterfall, there to watch these Feathered Favorites, amid the homes and haunts which best they love; there to listen to those sweet familiar strains, which freedom renders doubly joyous and inspiriting; and there to learn how God provides abundantly for all his creatures, and gives even to the weakest the means to satisfy its wants and secure its safety. Many a song shall we have to sing, many a choice passage from the poets to recite,