UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 189 



agree with him in that, as I have for some days 

 observed, that several birds have been singing 

 in an under voice, as if trying their powers; even 

 a thrush, early as it is, 'warbled a few low notes, 

 for Mary and me, this morning. But there is a 

 little brown bird, with a bluish, ashy-coloured 

 neck, that for two or three weeks I have con- 

 stantly heard, as it sits on a fir tree near my 

 window, loudly repeating its sweet, though un- 

 varied song. It is the winter fauvette, or hedge- 

 sparrow ; which, however, does not belong to the 

 sparrow tribe. The fauvette is described as a 

 lively, amiable bird, very active, and to be found 

 every where ; in gardens, in thickets, and hedge- 

 rows. 



Numbers of insects, too, may be discovered. 

 In our walks last month, we found many under 

 the bark of trees, or concealed in the moss; and 

 Mary told me that some of these are scarce in the 

 summer months. We have often brought home, 

 in our pocket handkerchiefs, great tufts of moss 

 from the roots of trees ; and by shaking it over 

 white paper, we have easily collected the insects. 



I forgot to mention the golden saxifrage, or 

 stonecrop, with which the shrubbery is bordered, 

 and which is just beginning to flower; and in 

 some of the hedges the sloe is coming into bloom. 

 But, mamma, even in the depth of winter, there 

 was no where that appearance of death described 

 by that melancholy writer ; for the bramble re- 



