32 INSESSORES. 
interval Nature is in all her freshness and fragrance; 
‘the rains are over and gone, the flowers appear upon 
the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, 
and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land.’ 
The trees are now in their fullest foliage and bright- 
est verdure; the woods are gay with the clustered 
flowers of the laurel; the air is perfumed by the 
sweet-brier and the wild rose; the meadows are ena- 
melled with clover blossoms; while the young apple, 
the peach, and the plum begin to swell, and the 
cherry to glow among the green leaves. 
“This is the chosen season of revelry of the Bob- 
link. He comes amid the pomp and fragrance of 
the season ; his life seems all sensibility and enjoy- 
ment, all song and sunshine. He is to be found in 
the soft bosoms of the freshest and sweetest mead- 
ows, and is most in song when the clover is in blos- 
som. He perches on the topmost twig of a tree, or 
on some long, flaunting weed, and as he rises and sinks 
with the breeze, pours forth a succession of rich tink- 
ling notes, crowding one upon another like the out- 
pouring melody of the Skylark, and possessing the 
same rapturous character. Sometimes he pitches 
from the summit of a tree, begins his song as soon 
as he gets upon the wing, and flutters tremulously 
down to the earth, as if overcome with ecstasy at his 
own music. Sometimes he is in pursuit of his par- 
amour, always in full song, as if he would win her 
by his melody, and always with the same appearance 
of intoxication and delight. 
“Of all the birds of our groves and meadows, the 
