18 SONG OF BIRDS. 



Yea ! every bird, however sober-hued 



His plumage be, pleaseth us more, endued 



With a soft pleasant voice, for harmony, 



Possesseth of man's stubborn heart the key, 



And hath the power to ope it, and lay bare 



All gentle thoughts and feelings hidden there. 



Yet would we not despise these gorgeous things, 



Nor wish them absent ; in man's wanderings 



Through the wide world, variety he loves, 



And not a shape that 's beautiful but proves 



There is a watchful Providence that heeds 



And ministers, not only to our needs, 



But to our pleasures also. Let them play, 



And scream, and chatter loudly as they may, 



'Tis happiness to them ; each unto each, 



Those tones are pleasing ; even as the speech 



A lover poureth in his fond one's ear. 



Therefore, although they may not be so dear 



As the sweet warblers of our native isle, 



Whene'er they cross your way, oh greet them with a smile ! 



What a wonderful power is that of song in birds ! To 

 see a Nightingale swell its throat, and pour forth a flood of 

 sweet melody ; to hear the little brown Lark, high up in 

 the sunshine, a mere speck 



Like a poet hidden 



In the light of thought, 

 Singing hymns unbidden, 



Till the world is wrought 

 To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not. 



One would indeed imagine, with Jeremy Taylor, that it 

 had * learned music and motion of an angel.' And yet the 

 blithe songster is conscious of no extraordinary effort. 

 Nature or, we should rather say, the Great God, who 

 delights to make all things well has so gifted the little 

 songster that he can < discourse most eloquent music ' with- 

 out ever having been taught how to do it, probably without 

 knowing that in giving utterance to the rapturous feelings 

 of his loving heart, he is filling the skies and the groves 

 with melody, delighting the soul of man, and chasing away 

 a world of care from his anxious and troubled mind. 

 Wonderful, we say again, truly wonderful is this power 

 of song for which British birds, above all others, are 



