134 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



wliich vc7y small specimens are taken and exposed for 

 sale in immense heaps in the market, this article of 

 food bids fair to become scarce, if the practice be not 

 discontinued. 



Piliiiiiniis hirtellus. Carapace about an inch broad, 

 rounded, and clothed with slight setae. Colour rich 

 reddish-brown; first pair of legs massive. Frequents 

 hollows under weedy stones in pools ; may be 

 searched for at low tide on rocky shores. 



Pirimcla deiiiiciilata. Carapace small, convex and 

 ■jcrrated fonvard. Colour greenish-brown ; legs like 



Fig. loi.—Hyascoarciatits. a, male ; /;, female. 



those of shore crab. Is found amongst fucus, but is 

 very rare. 



Carcinns maiias. The common shore crab. De- 

 scription needless. Frequents sandy bays and zostcra 

 pools, where it often may be found of beautiful 

 colours, rich green with pearly markings. 



Portuinnus latipes. Carapace small, delicate and 

 of a whitish-brown tint, mottled ; legs slender. 

 This rare species lives in samd banks, and its 

 •exuviated carapace is more frequently met with than 

 the animal itself. These exuvine may be found at 

 bt. Ouen's Bay. 



( To be continued.) 



ORNITHOLOGY OF THE POET.S. 



IX the following paper I shall only attempt to give 

 a few of the most pleasing passages on birds 

 and their habits, from the poets. Birds are essentially 

 the creatures of poetry, almost as much so as flowers ; 

 the purity and joyfulness of their existence, the grace 

 and sprightliness of all their actions, those wild and 

 solitary spots which they so love to frequent — the 

 lonely heath and the green forest — all combine to 

 make them the prime favourites of the true poet. 

 Perhaps nobody has ever excelled Shake- 

 speare in the accuracy and careful word- 

 painting with which he describes Nature 

 in her various aspects, although there is 

 wanting in his poetry that great love of 

 Nature for her own sake which we find in 

 the poets of a later period, pre-eminently 

 in the "Lake School" of poets, such as 

 Wordsworth or Coleridge. In Macbeth's 

 solemn invocation to night the whole 

 passage is wonderfully heightened by the 

 last two lines : 



" Come, seeling night ! 

 bcarf up the eye ol pitiful day ; 

 And with thy bloody and invisible hand 

 Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond 

 Which keeps me pale ! Light thickens 

 And the crow makes 'wing to the rooky wood." 



It is well known that the crow {Corv us 

 coroiic) is the last bird to retire to rest, 

 with the exception, perhaps, of the red- 

 breast (Silvia ritbeculd). In ' Macbeth,' 

 too, we have the following passage : 



" This guest ef summer. 

 The temple-haunting 7>uirtlet, does approve, 

 By his lov'd masonry, that heaven's breath 

 Smells wooingly here. No jutting frieze, 

 Buttress, nor coigne of vantage, but the bird 

 Hath made his pendent nest and procreant 



cradle ; 

 Where they most breed, I have observed 

 The air is delicate." 



But the bird does not always show its love 

 for the pure and untainted air, as I have 

 seen it nesting as late as October in the 

 very heart of Dublin ; and a writer on 

 our migratory birds mentions having seen 

 it nesting in the Borough and the Strand 

 itself. The ' Midsummer Night's Dream ' 



has some beautiful descriptions of Nature ; the 



blackbird is spoken of as : 



" The ouzel cock so blackof hue 

 With orange tawny bill. 



The finch, the sparrow and the lark. 



The plain song cuckoo gray. 

 Whose note full many a man doth mark. 



And dares not answer nay." 



Logan has written a beautiful poem to the cuckoo, 

 beginning : 



" Hail, beauteous stranger of the grove! 

 Thou messenger of Spring! 

 Now heaven repairs thy rural haunts 

 And woods thy welcome sing." 



