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AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



THE BIRDS OF GODFREY RESERVATION. 



By A. A. Ringwalt. 



Nature knows no law of man. 



But roots and climbs where'er it can, 



And thus its myriad forms are sent 



In pesterous, sweetest lavishment. 



So now, where once the Indian basked 



And forests yielded all he asked. 



The many birds by creation given 



Have installed on earth a part of heaven. 



Here rabbits find some safe retreat 



From baying hounds in pursuit more fleet; 



Here the woodchuck burrows beneath the mound 



And fashions his castle under ground; 



Here the mink steals silently out, then in. 



To save from the hunter his precious skin. 



Man surely cannot help imbibe 



This spirit of the feathered tribe. 



Where hawks sail past on silent wing; 



Where owls hoot and nest in spring; 



Where blue jays clamor the whole year round, 



And where the Robin's nest is found; 



Where woodpeckers bore in the trees and stubs 



And build their nests and feed on grubs; 



Where j uncos frolic in March winds gay 



Ere they fly for the woods of Canada; 



Where warblers glean from tender leaves ; 



Where the nuthatch to the gum tree cleaves, 



And probes with pointed bill the sheath 



To rouse some insect housed beneath ; 



Where catbirds build their nest and sing; 



Where long is heard the clarion ring 



Of the wood thrush, bell-bird of the shade, 



Wherein a mud-walled nest is made 



In the fork, perhaps of a maple tree, 



And of which all with exclaim with me, 



