ing, sawing, and planing were frequently going on, I had little hope they would choose a location1 under our roof.

4. To my surprise, however, they soon began to build in the crotch of a beam over the open door-way. I was delighted, and spent much time in watching them. It was, in fact, a beautiful little drama2 of domestic love; the motherbird was so busy and important, and her mate was so attentive. He scarcely ever left the side of the nest. There he was, all day long, twittering in tones that were most obviously the outpourings of love.

5. Sometimes he would bring in a straw or a hair to be interwoven in the precious little fabric. One day my attention was arrested by a very unusual twittering, and I saw him circling round with a large downy feather in his bill. He bent over the unfinished nest, and offered it to his mate with the most graceful and loving air imaginable; and when she put up her mouth to take it, he poured forth such a gush of gladsome sound! It seemed as if pride and affection had swelled his heart till it was almost too big for his little bosom.

6. During the process of incubation3 he volunteered to perform his share of household duty. Three or four times a day he would, with coaxing twitterings, persuade his patient mate to fly abroad for food; and the moment she left the eggs, he would take her place, and give a loud alarm whenever cat or dog came about the premises. When the young ones came forth he shared in the mother's toil, and brought at least half the food for his greedy little family.

7. When the young became old enough to fly, the gravest philosopher would have laughed to watch their manœuvres. Such chirping and twittering! such diving down from the nest, and flying up again! such wheeling round in circles, talking to the young ones all the while! such clinging to the sides of the shed with their sharp claws, to show the timid little fledgelings that there was no need of falling!

8. For three days all this was carried on with increasing activity. It was obviously an infant flying-school. But all the talking and twittering were of no avail. The little downy things looked down, and then looked up, and, alarmed at the wide space around them, sank down into the nest again.

9. At length the parents grew impatient, and summoned their neighbors. As I was picking up chips one day, I found my head encircled by a swarm of swallows. They flew up to the nest, and chattered away to the young ones; they clung to the walls, looking back to tell how the thing was done; they dived, and wheeled, and balanced, and floated in a manner perfectly beautiful to behold.

10. The pupils were evidently much excited. They jumped up on the edge of the nest, and twittered, and shook their feathers, and waved their wings, and then hopped back again, as if they would have said, "It is pretty sport, but we can not do it."

11. Three times the neighbors came in and repeated their graceful lessons. The third time two of the young birds gave a sudden plunge downward, and then fluttered, and hopped, till they alighted on a small log. And O, such praises as were warbled by the whole troop! the air was filled with their joy! Some flew round, swift as a ray of light; others perched on the hoe-handle and the teeth of the rake; multitudes clung to the wall; and two were swinging, in the most graceful style, on a pendents hoop. Never, while memory lasts, shall I forget that swallow party.

12. The whole family continued to be our playmates until the falling leaves gave token of approaching winter. For some time the little ones came home regularly to their nest at night. Their familiarity was wonderful. If I hung my gown on a nail, I found a little swallow perched on the sleeve. If I took a nap in the afternoon, my waking eyes were greeted by a swallow on the bedpost: in the summer twilight they flew about the sitting-room in search of flies, and sometimes lighted on chairs and tables. But at last they flew away to more genial skies, with a whole troop of relations and neighbors. It was painful to me to think that I should never know them from other swallows, and that they would have no recollection of me.

1 LO-CA'-TION, situation; building-place.
2 DRA'-MA, representation; act of a play.
3 IN-CU-BA'-TION, sitting on eggs for the
purpose of hatching young.

MRS. CHILD.

4 FLEDGE'-LING, a young bird just furnished with feathers.

5 PEND'-ENT, hanging.

6 GE'-NI-AL, mild; cheerful; pleasant.

2. Ye love the spots where ye were reared, Where first ye stretched abroad your wings; These places seem to you endeared,

Amid your many journeyings.

3. And there your little nests ye build,

And nurse with care your tender brood;
And skimming o'er the lake and field,
Procure for them their daily food.

4. Oft have I marked your rapid flight,
Ye happy birds! on sunny days,
When earth was beautiful and bright,

And warblers poured their sweetest lays.

5. And I have wished that I could fly
With you afar, when winter lowers,
To bask beneath a cloudless sky,
Or roam among the myrtle bowers.

6. And I have wished to find a nest,

Where, undisturbed by care or strife, In calm seclusion I might rest,

And pass the sunny hours of life:

7. Where I might dwell, till o'er my head

Age stretched its deepening clouds of gloom,
And then my wings I'd heavenward spread,
To seek a land of bliss and bloom.

8. Gay birds! ye visit us when bright
The summer sun in glory shines;
But from our fields ye take your flight
When autumn day by day declines.

9. And so, like you, we often find

That those, in fortune's golden day, Who seemed companions, loving, kind, When storms arise will haste away.

Anon.

1. AND is the swallow gone'?
Who beheld it'?

Which way sailed it`?
Farewell både it none'?

2. No mortal saw it go:
But who doth hear

Its summer cheer

As it flitteth to and fro'?

3. So the freed spirit flies!
From its surrounding clay

It steals away

Like the swallow from the skies.

4. Whither'? wherefore doth it go?
'Tis all unknown';

We feel alone

That a void is left below.

WILLIAM HOWITT.

1. Red Tanager, or Scarlet Sparrow, Tanager rubra. 2. English Jay, Corvus glandarius. 3. Baltimore Oriole, Oriolus Baltimore. 4. Common Cross-bill, Loxia curvirostra. 5. Common Goldfinch, Fringilla carduelis. 6. American Blue Jay, Corvus cristatus. 7. Cardinal Grosbeak, Loxia cardinalis. 8. Senegal Touraco, Corythaix Senegalensis. 9. Raven, Corvus eorax. 10. Magpie, Corvus pica. 11. Violet Plantain-eater, Musophaga violacea. 12. Meadow Lark, Alauda Magna.

1. In the third division of the perchers are the birds which have cone-shaped bills. Seeds and grain are the principal food of these birds; and for picking these from their frequently hard coverings, as well as for crushing hard seeds, their stout and horny beaks are well fitted. These birds have been divided into the several families of the Crows, the Starlings, the Finches, the Horn-bills, and the Plantain-eaters.

2. In the crow family are included the well-known raven (the "corbie" of Scotland), celebrated from time immemorial as a bird of evil omen; that thief and vagabond the common crow, and his near cousins the rooks, both pests of the corn