they make their appearance, the male selects his mate, and looks about for a suitable place in which to build the nest. Having found a spot which pleases him, he appears to announce it to the female, by one of his sweetest and tenderest songs. The place chosen, is usually in the small bushes of eglantine, or hawthorn, or among the branches of the woodbine. The nest is slightly made of the dried stems and curled roots of grass, with a little hair, bound together with the cotton of plants. The eggs, five in number, are of a reddish-brown colour, with spots of deep morone. The black-cap is a bird of a most amiable and affectionate temper: not only does he most assiduously share in the labours of the henbird in a state of freedom, but when taken captive with his family, he continues to feed the young ones and the female; even forcing the latter to eat, when the misery she experiences from her loss of freedom, would lead her to refuse all sustenance. In time, he becomes also much attached to the person who takes care of him. He will call his attendant with a particular note, and when he sees him approach, his tones become more expressive of affection. Like the nightingale, the fauvette, within the walls of its prison, seems as sensible to the approach of the season of emigration, as when flying, with unfet

tered wing, among his mates of the field. So greatly are they agitated during the autumnal nights, that many of them actually die in consequence. This unsettlement continues among the poor little captives until the month of November, when they become tranquil again, and continue so until the return of another season.

THE BLACK-CAP, OR FAUVETTE.

Oh! fair befall thee, gay fauvette,
With trilling song and crown of jet ;
Thy pleasant notes with joy I hail,
Floating on the vernal gale.
Far hast thou flown on downy wing,
To be our guest in early spring :
In that first dawning of the year,
Pouring a strain as rich and clear
As is the blackbird's mellow lay,
In later hours of flowery May.

While April skies to grove and field,
Alternate shade and sunshine yield,
I hear thy wild and joyous strain,
And give thee welcome once again.
Come build within my hawthorn bower,
And shade thy nurslings with its flower;
Or where my wreathed woodbines twine,
Make there a home for thee and thine.
Now fair befall thee, gay fauvette,
With trilling song and crown of jet!