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Pictures of Bird Life 



WlLLOW-WREX AT NeST. 



luckless worm is seized by the 

 orange beak, dragged out, 

 and promptly swallowed, de- 

 spite its convulsive wriggles 

 and squirmings. 



Sharing the labours of the 

 Thrush, it also shares the 

 rewards, taking its tithe of 

 ripe strawberries and cherries. 

 To me the fairest and best- 

 kept garden in the world 

 would seem but a barren 

 wilderness without such 

 glimpses of bird life, — the Blackbird and Thrush on the 

 dcMy grass ; the Robin, Avith its bold and sprightly familiarity : 

 the sober Flycatcher, performing its quiet but useful services 

 throushout the lono- summer dav : the burnished Swallow, 

 on tireless wings, sweeping to and fro so unceasingly ; and 

 the lovely ^Martin, twittering happily in its mud nest under 

 the eaves. The presence so near our houses of such graceful 

 visitors as these ought to be looked upon as a privilege and 

 a constant enjoyment, without taking any account of the 

 undoubted good they do in dcAouring grubs and insects. 



'J'he Blackbird is, too, a most accomplished musician, 

 and its mellow flutings are by some preferred to the song 

 of the Thrush. By its constant vigilance, and its loud, 

 rattling alarm-note, which gives warning to all within 

 hearing that danger is approaching, it merits the title of 



