BIRDS OF THE BIBI,K 



in every village, coming home, as they do to-day 

 to their " windows" or latticed openings, there 

 are myriads of rock-doves — "doves of the valleys," 

 ' ' the dove that maketh her nest in the side of the 

 hole's mouth " — in all the mountain gorges of 

 Palestine. Their plaintive coo, and the metallic 

 lustre of their plumage, are alike alluded to. 



But it is around the turtle-dove that greatest 

 interest gathers. It was the type of love. Its 

 dark, lustrous eyes were the emblems of the eyes 

 of the beloved one : its soft wings were the means 

 by which the earth-wearied spirit was to rise at 

 last to rest. Again and again this gentle and 

 innocent figure is used to signify truths of the 

 highest occult meaning. 



From the prehistoric day when man first awoke 

 to the wonders of the recurring spring, untold 

 myriads of lines have been written in its cele- 

 bration. But no lines, we imagine, have been 

 written so simple, yet so perfectly descriptive, as 

 these : 



' ' For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. 



The flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of 



birds is come. 

 And the voice of the turtle is heard in the la nd." 



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