THE HUMMING-BIR&. 345 



Cock robin found them ; and he is described as bringing leaves in 

 his mouth, and covering their dead bodies with them. 



*' Their pretty lips with blackberries 



Were all besmear'd and dyed ; 

 And when they saw the darksome night, 

 They laid them down and cried. 



" No burial these pretty babes 



Of any man receives, 

 Till robin redbreast, painfully, 

 Did cover them with leaves." 



This ballad has something in it peculiarly calculated to touch the 

 finest feelings of the human heart. Perhaps there is not a village or 

 hamlet in England that has not heard what befell the babes in the 

 wood ; and how poor cock robin did all in his power for them when 

 death had closed their eyes. I wish it were in my power to do only 

 half as much in favour of some other birds, as this well-known ballad 

 of " The Children in the Wood " has done for poor cock robin. 



THE HUMMING-BIRD. 



I AM not satisfied with the accounts which naturalists have given us 

 of this little animated aerial gem. Neither do the drawings of it 

 please me; and as for the specimens themselves, in the museums 

 both at home and on the Continent, they have, all of them, evidently 

 been done by the hand of a man who knew not what he was doing. 

 I wish to describe the figure and the habits of the humming-bird 

 family so distinctly, that when young naturalists visit our museums 

 they may be able to decide, without any hesitation, which is a hum- 

 ming-bird, and which is not. For this family is unique in the world, 

 and its figure cannot be mistaken. All other known birds, saving 

 the swifts, may be seen at one time or other on the ground. The 

 humming-bird is never observed there. 



