PHILLIDA AND CORIDON. Ill 



ciated too long and too intimately with men, 

 and have fallen far away from their primal in- 

 nocence. There is no need to describe their 

 actions. The vociferous and most unmannerly 

 importunity of the suitor, and the correspond- 

 ingly spiteful rejection of his overtures by the 

 little vixen on whom his affections are for the 

 moment placed, — these we have all seen to 

 our hearts' discontent. 



The sparrow will not have been brought over 

 the sea for nothing, however, if his bad behavior 

 serves to heighten our appreciation of our own 

 native songsters, with their " perfect virtues " 

 and '* manners for the heart's delight." 



The American robin, for instance, is far from 

 being a bird of excepticmal refinement. His 

 nest is rude, not to say slovenly, and his gen- 

 eral deportment is unmistakably common. But 

 watch him when he goes a- wooing, and you will 

 begin to feel quite a new respect for him. How 

 gently he approaches his beloved ! How care- 

 fully he avoids ever coming disrespectfully near ! 

 No sparrow-like screaming, no dancing about, 

 no melodramatic gesticulation. If she moves 

 from one side of the tree to the other, or to the 

 tree adjoining, he follows in silence. Yet every 

 movement is a petition, an assurance that his 

 heart is hers and ever must be. The action is 

 extremely simple ; there is nothing of which to 



