APRIL. 93 



fectly shrouded in its hop-like blossoms till the end 

 of May. The flowering of this tree, so striking 

 and beautiful, yet so little noticed by poets, has been 

 introduced into some beautiful lines referring to this 

 season 



When daisies blush, and windflowers wet with dew ; 

 When shady lanes with hyacinths are blue ; 

 When the elm blossoms o'er the brooding bird, 

 And wild and wide the plover's wail is heard ; 

 When melts the mist on mountains far away, 

 Till morn is kindled into brightest day. 



Author of " Corn Law Rhymes" 



But perhaps the most delightful of all the features 

 of this month are the return of migratory birds, and 

 the commencement of building their nests. Not 

 only the swallow tribe, the cuckoo, and the night- 

 ingale, whose arrival is noticed by almost every 

 body, but scores of other old acquaintances suddenly 

 salute you in your walks with their well-remembered 

 aspects and notes. White-throats, whinchats, reed- 

 sparrows, etc. perched on their old haunts, and fol- 

 lowing their diversified habits, seem as little fatigued, 

 or strange, as if they had worn invisible jackets all 

 winter, and had never left the spot. The sweet 

 voice of the turtle-dove is again heard in the woods 

 of the southern counties. There is something truly 

 delightful to the naturalist in the beauty of birds' 

 nests, and the endless variety of colours, spots, and 

 hieroglyphic scrolls, on their eggs ; the picturesque 

 places in which they are fixed, from the lapwing's 



