332 



Birds. 



as they went out in the morning to feed. They are 

 still found in considerable quantities in many parts of 

 England, but never in Scotland, forming their nests in 

 the hollows of trees ; not like the ringdove, on boughs. 

 Their murmuring strains, or cooings, in the morning 

 and at dusk, are highly pleasing, and throw an agree- 

 able melancholy on the solitude of the grove. The poet 

 of the Seasons expresses this in the following lines, with 

 a beautiful instance of imitative harmony : 



the Stockdove breathes 



A melancholy murmur through the whole." 



Spring. 



Wordsworth also gives a pleasing description of the 

 mournful cooing of these birds : 



" I heard a Stockdove sing or say 

 His homely tule this very day ; 

 His voice was buried among trees, 

 Yet to be come at by the breeze ; 

 He did not cease ; but cooed and cooed ; 

 And somewhat pensively he wooed ; 

 He sang of love with quiet blending, 

 Slow to begin, and never ending ; 

 Of serious faith and inward glee, 

 That was the song the song for me.'' 



THE EOCKDOVE. (Columla livia.) 



THE shape of this bird, which is the original stock ol 

 our domestic Pigeons, is well known, and the plumage 



