COLUMB^. ( 131 ) COLUMBIDM. 



THE RING DOVE. 



WOOD PIGEON, CUSHAT, QUEST. 



Columha palumhus. 

 Cu0t)ie, Cu0ljie 2Doo* 



' Twas summertide , the Cushat sang 



His am'rotts roundelay. 



An dews like cluster d dia7nonds hung 



On flow' r and leafy spray, 



The coverlet of gloamin' grey 



On everything was seen, 



When lads and lasses took their way 



To Polwart on the Green. 



Song, Polwat-t on the Green.^ 



The Cuschetts on the branches green. 

 Full qidetly they crinvd.- 



Alexander Hume.3 



The soft cooing of the Cushat is one of the many delightful 

 sounds which are heard in our woods and groves in the 

 spring and early summer months, and it falls soothingly 

 on the ear whilst we listen to the rich and varied strains 

 of the Blackbird and the Thrush. There is something 

 peculiarly pleasing in the low melancholy note, which is 

 suggestive of peace and rest. 



Nor is her changeless plaint 

 Unmusical, when with the general quire 

 Of woodland harmony it softly blends. 



Grahame. 



1 Written by John Grieve. See Scottish Minstrel, vol. v. p. 4. 



2 To coo like a dove. — Jamieson, Scot. Diet. " The kowsehot croudis and 

 prykis on the ryse." — Gavin Douglas, 1513. 



3 Alexander Hume, parson of Logie, was the second son of Patrick, 5th Baron 

 of Polwarth, the lineal ancestor of the family of Marchmont. His poems were 

 printed in 1599. He is supposed to have been born about 1550. — Sibbald's Chron. 

 Scot. Poetry, iii. p. 367. 



