78 A FEATHERED HERMIT. 



May. Like the rest of the Chat family, it is of a solitary, 

 unsocial disposition, and is said by authors to equal its 

 congeners in shyness. It is wholly devoid of the lively 

 expression of the Fallow Chat, both as regards plumage and 

 general appearance, being in fact rather a sluggish, inactive 

 bird. Sometimes it will sit on the top of a hedge, or whin 

 bush, for an hour together, looking half-stupid, half-melan- 

 choly, and then, as if astonished at its own inactivity, begins 

 to make up for lost time, either pouring forth its low, sweet 

 strains, or assisting in the household concerns. It is not so 

 eminently a bird of the stony waste as the Fallow Chat, but 

 seldom approaches the habitations of man, inhabiting com- 

 mons abounding with furze or whin bushes. Here it builds 

 its nest, either in the long grass, or in a low thick bush. 

 The eggs, five or six in number, are of a clear and beautiful 

 blueish green. There is nothing remarkable about its song ; 

 it is sweet and melodious, though desultory, and uttered in 

 rather a hurried manner. It is not very regular in the 

 time of its departure, being influenced a great deal by the 

 weather, but generally takes flight in October. The food 

 of this bird are small slugs, snails, worms, and flies, foi 

 which it searches most actively morning and evening. 



Shy bird of the common, that makest thy home 



In the furze bush, all spangled with blossoms of gold, 



Where seldom the wandering citizens come, 

 Or rustics approach, thy retreat to behold ; 



That singest thy song in the wilderness wild, 

 To the burrowing Kabbit, and lonely Pee-whcct, 



Like a hermit no more by youth's feelings beguiled, 

 Who owneth the pleasures of life are a cheat. 



Thou buildest thy nest, and thou rearest thy young, 



Far away from the dim habitations of men, 

 The blue sky is o'er, like a canopy, hung, 



Around thee is mountain, and valley, and glen, 

 Serenity broods, like a dove, o'er thy nest, 



Peace smiles on thine offspring, and whispers delight ; 

 Thou hast not a care to deprive thee of rest, 



There comes not a sorrow thy pleasure to blight. 

 With no brilliant plumage thy form is bedecked, 



The eye and the hand of the spoiler to tempt. 

 Thou dost not, like some, the bright sunbeams reflect, 



And art from the dangers that wait them exempt. 



