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time have we found ourselves sitting in Wetheral and other woods 
in this district, after a hard week’s work, on a Sunday morning at 
break of day, enjoying the beauties of nature, the songs of birds, 
the river murmuring over its rocky bed, the wild flowers emitting 
their delicious odour, and. gemmed with drops of dew; the umbra- 
geous masses of foliage of the different trees—how beautiful they 
are when lit up by the beams of the rising sun! In early morning 
nature looks its best; the sweet aroma, the delicious morning air, 
so pure and exhilarating, and the buoyant feeling, takes off all the 
toil which you have experienced the week previous. 
How charming to sit on some rocky boulder, or flower- 
enamelled bank, and admire the pretty scene around you! No 
hum of voices breaks upon the ear, no hurrying to and fro disturbs 
the quiet of the incense-breathing morning ; you feel as happy, 
joyous, and free, as if you had cast off all the cares of this busy 
world. Yonder Thrush carrolling forth its matin hymn, a sweet 
contralto solo, his bright, sparkling eyes, seeming as if his whole 
being was in giving forth his soul in song; the little Wren, 
making the welkin ring with his serenade to the partner of his joys, 
now sitting on her nest; and the dulcet strains of the Garden 
Warbler, whose notes once heard are not easily forgotten; also 
the Dipper, who has just had a morning bath, and now gurgles his 
notes deliciously ; and from yonder oak tree the Blackcap, singing 
as if his little heart would burst to outrival all his compeers of the 
wood. Nowand again the soft cooing of the Wood Pigeon adds to 
the charm of the morning concert ; and the pretty little Pied Fly- 
catcher, with his amusing antics, as he descends from some leafy 
perch to pick up his matin meal, seems to think that he, too, i 
should aid the minstrelsy by his melodious little song. Now is 
the time to see the Sandpiper in his glory, and his grotesque 
attitudes when in company with the female are very amusing. 
There is no time like early morning to study the habits of birds ; 
they appear to throw off all fear, and you can approach them with 
a good deal less stealth than at any other part of the day. What 
a chorus of our summer visitors, the “cheery voices of the woods,” 
who have just arrived from far off lands, having flown for miles over 
