SYLVIA SIBILATRIX. 317 



slowly, and ending with the same notes faster. Like many of 

 the warblers it sings on the wing when slowly descending to the 

 twig from which it rose, and many a time, as I have listened to 

 those sweet half-melancholy notes in the hushed silence of an 

 old wood, I have felt a calm pleasure stealing over my thoughts, 

 leading to that innate, true, natural religion which neither chant 

 nor choir, sermon nor deep-toned organ can subdue — the inborn 

 aspirations of the human soul ! which, when we dare do ill, 

 " conscience makes such cowards of us all " that " the native hue 

 of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." 

 And as these little birds return to their native haunts, at 

 Nature's call, to continue their species, no hymn nor song, even 

 in a crowded church, is more joyous, and reminds us more of 

 true prayer and praise, than those clear, sweet, wild notes from 

 the top of some tall tree, in the midst of human solitude, beneath 

 the dome of heaven — alone with Nature and her happy offspring, 

 with unpretending worship. Such feelings no doubt made 

 Southey, in his "Joan of Arc," make the maid exclaim, when 

 arguing with the priest about the power of Nature over the 

 human soul, that it had a better effect upon her mind than the 

 ritual of the church — 



;' The birds 

 Who to the matin ray prelusive pour'd 

 Their joyous song, methought did warble forth 

 Sweeter thanksgiving to religion's ear — 

 In their wild melody of happiness — 

 Than ever rung along the high-arched roofs of man." 



Its shrill, quivering note is heard a long way off in the 

 hushed silence of the wood, and cannot be mistaken for that of 

 any other bird — from which hissing-like trill it has derived the 

 Latin name of Sibilatrix. Its nest is made on the ground, 

 under the herbage in the wood, domed over like the others; 

 but lined with fine fibres and hair instead of feathers. The eggs, 

 six or seven, are known from those of the other two by being a 

 little larger and freckled over with rufus dots, the colour of 

 claret — they are § by J an inch. The nest is easily found by 

 watching, as the bird flies down direct to it with materials or 

 food. It deserves the name of yellow wood-wren from the top 

 of the head and upper parts of the body being light yellow ; 

 forehead and eye-streak, gamboge ; throat, sides of the breast, 

 and thighs, pale yellow. The iris is brown. Male 5£ inches 

 long ; 8} inches in extent of wings. Female similar. 



