148 PAYS FOR ITS KEEP. 



mountains ; and then what so appropriate for him to call 

 to mind, and to utter, as the fine devotional lines of 

 Edmestone ? 



Sweet bard of the woods ! on this still summer even, 



How lovely, how soft, and how mellow thy lay ! 

 It is calm as the earth ; it is clear as the heaven ; 



It is soothing and sweet, like the requiem of day! 

 Oh! what art thou singing? It speaks to my soul, 



Methinks I could tell thee the words of thy song; 

 Pure pleasure and gratitude beam through the whole, 



And the summer eve's zephyr conveys it along. 



Gilbert White has remarked that in the season of nidifica- 

 tion the wilder birds are comparatively speaking tame, and 

 the Blackbird is no exception to this rule, for although 

 naturally shy and retiring, it commonly builds close to a 

 house, and in situations where it is constantly subjected to 

 interruptions, as near a garden walk, often in a bush, within 

 reach of the hand. There, as Bishop Mant describes it 



The o'erarching boughs between 



Of some selected evergreen, 



Of laurel thick, or branching fir, 



Or bed of pleasant lavender, 



To lodge secure his pendent home, 



A well-wove frame, with moistened loam 



Within cemented, and without 



Rough, but compactly all about 



With moss and fibrous roots entwined, 



And withered turf-grass softly lined, 



Where may repose in season due 



The pregnant balls of chalky blue, 



Bespread about the flattened crown 



With pallid spots of chestnut brown. 



To the cultivator of land the Blackbird is supposed to 

 be a great enemy ; he is fond of all soft fruits ; peas in the 

 bud, and grain before it gets too hard for the bill, are laid 

 under contribution, and he eats with a will too, and often 

 destroys more than he devours. But what of that ? We 

 have already seen by Macgillivray's account how large 

 a proportion of beetles and other insects he consumes, and 

 could the balance be fairly struck, we believe that, taking 

 out of the account the large amount of pleasure which it 



