168 THE HOUSE MAKTIN. 



not possible to receive or admit any other thing, save the bird which built 

 it, for to every thing else it is so impenetrable, close, and shut, that nothing 

 can enter, not even the water of the sea." 



If, after all, this Iron Age of Mechanism — '^these dregs of life" — is not 

 fraught with much of love and taste for Nature's simple charms, we at 

 all 6vents, in Zoology, approach nearer truth than did the dwellers upon 

 the land in those days, "whence our fabling Poets took their Golden Age." 

 I lament, however, that the Spirit of the Times has now no faith in the 

 genial influence of the Halcyon days, for never was tranquility and repose 

 more required by wearied and shattered man. 



I hailed. Sir, with delight the advent of your periodical, which is based 

 on such a plan as will render it accessible to every one, from the peer 

 to the peasant J for I was ever taught in childhood, and the belief has ripened 

 with my years, that the study and appreciation of the. good and beautiful in 

 Nature, are elements necessary to breathe into society a truly healthy and 

 moral tone. It has always seemed to me that those lines of our Poet Coleridge 

 are singularly beautiful, and teem with- truth — • 



"He prayeth best who loveth best 

 All things both great and small, 

 For the dear God who loveth us 

 He made and loveth all." 



Those who have been trained in the harsher rudiments of schools, and have 

 been inculcated with the arid doctrines of scholastic dogmas, may, though 

 strangely recognising the force of allegory, disapprove of reality, and object to 

 Nature as a guide to truth, yet, it is my conviction, that there cannot be a 

 more suasive appeal to the wav^rer, or infidel in faith, than the charms and 

 magnificence of Nature; she touches at once the affections and the finer feelings 

 of man. In truth did one of the greatest founders of Natural History, 

 Linnaeus, the memory of whose departed genius can never fade, inscribe in 

 golden words, ''That he who does not make himself acquainted with the all- 

 wise Providence from the consideration of Nature, will scarcely acquire 

 knowledge of Him from any other source, for if we have no faith in the 

 things that are seen, how should we believe those things that are not seen." 



THE HOUSE MARTIN, {HIRUNDO URBICA) 



BY JOHN DIXON, ESQ. 



During the spring of 1851, a couple of Martins built under the eaves of 

 a new house, at Moor Allerton, the residence of a friend of mine. The 

 nest occupied about eight days in building, and when completed, an audacious 

 cock Sparrow unceremoniously took possession, and kept the rightful owners 

 out. They made every exertion to dislodge the intruder, and for some time 

 kept up a most vigorous assault ; but could make nothing of their troublesome 



