the assembling of these wonderful birds, flitting over our heads in airy circles and countless numbers. The migration of the swallow seems to have been noticed in almost all ages and countries. It is alluded to by the prophet Jeremiah: “the turtle and the crane and the swallow, observe the time of their coming." The poets of Greece and Rome have celebrated the arrival of this social bird in melodious strains, blending with its natural history many an imaginary circumstance and fanciful legend. The purity of its appearance, its graceful and rapid flight, its continuing long on the wing, and never resting on earth, has invested it with a character which speaks to the reflecting mind of a purer world; and renders it a fit emblem of the life of a Christian not chained to earth, though seeking on its surface the daily supply of daily wants.

We have spoken of its departure, which foretells approaching glooms and stormy skies; but the time of its re-appearance is a season of joy and rejoicing. When the trees are unfolding their leaves, and the endless profusion of wildflowers begins again to gladden our eyes in the woods and fields, then do we look out for the swallow; especially from about the eighth or tenth of April, to the fourteenth or sixteenth, we are making enquiry after the expected visitant. If we

see her not ourselves, we are at least anxious to learn if others have been more fortunate; and when at length she flies before us, we hail her as the sure herald of brighter days, and forget for a moment the sage adage, so often dealt out to us by the wise and prudent, that "one swallow does not make a summer." It is a sober truth which we may not deny, yet doth the first swallow, come she early or late, bring fair summer promises, which we hope ever to welcome with delight. The physician carries the intelligence of her arrival to the chamber of the invalid, as the cheering presage of a more genial season; the aged man rests on his staff, and watches with pleasure the swift flight of the new-comer, as she sweeps over the valley; the little child tells the news to his mates of the nursery and the school-room, and they rejoice in the pleasant tidings.

"The welcome guest of settled spring,

The swallow too is come at last!

Just at sunset, when thrushes sing,
I saw her dash with rapid wing,
And hail'd her as she past."*

*Charlotte Smith.

THE SWALLOW,

What joy, welcome herald, thou bringest
To our homes o'er the sun-bright sea!
What glad lays of summer thou singest,
When she visits our shores with thee.

But she flies, and the warm spell is broken
That bound thy swift wing so long:
Sweet bird, to our hearts thou hast spoken,
In the notes of that farewell song.

Still thy soft hymns of praise art thou pouring;
Still on heaven's gentle airs dost thou fly ;
So above should our spirits be soaring,
To bask in a brighter sky.

Oh! the path of the worldling is chilling,
He knows but the winter of time;
While the soul of the Christian is thrilling,
In the light of a purer clime.

ORDER PASSERES.

Goat-sucker. Fern-Owl. Night-Jar. Churn-Owl.

Caprimulgus Europæus.

Of this curious and interesting race of birds, Cuvier observes that they have the same light and soft plumage, shaded with grey and brown,