32 INSESSORESo 



interval Nature is in all her freshness and fragrance ; 

 ' the rains are over and gone, the flowers appear upon 

 the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, 

 and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land/ 

 The trees are now in their fullest foliage and bright- 

 est verdure ; the woods are gay with the clustered 

 flowers of the laurel ; the air is perfumed by the 

 sweet-brier and the wild rose ; the meadows are ena- 

 melled with clover blossoms ; while the young apple, 

 the peach, and the plum begin to swell, and the 

 cherry to glow among the green leaves. 



" This is the chosen season of revelry of the Bob- 

 link. He comes amid the pomp and fragrance of 

 the season ; his life seems all sensibility and enjoy- 

 ment, all song and sunshine. He is to be found in 

 the soft bosoms of the freshest and sweetest mead- 

 ows, and is most in song when the clover is in blos- 

 som. He perches on the topmost twig of a tree, or 

 on some long, flaunting weed, and as he rises and sinks 

 with the breeze, pours forth a succession of rich tink- 

 ling notes, crowding one upon another like the out- 

 pouring melody of the Skylark, and possessing the 

 same rapturous character. Sometimes he pitches 

 from the summit of a tree, begins his song as soon 

 as he gets upon the wing, and flutters tremulously 

 down to the earth, as if overcome with ecstasy at his 

 own music. Sometimes he is in pursuit of his par- 

 amour, always in full song, as if he would win hei 

 by his melody, and always with the same appearance 

 of intoxication and delight. 



" Of all the birds of our groves and meadows, the 



