THE GREEN LINNET. 253 



In som"bre forest, grey and melancholy, 



Yet sweet withal, and full of love and peace, 

 And 'mid the furze wrapped in a golden fleece 



Of blossoms, and in hedgerows green and lowly ; 

 On thymy banks, where wild bees never cease 

 Their murmur-song, thou hast thy home of love. 



Like some lone hermit, far from sin and folly, 

 "Pis thine through forest fragrancies to rove 



Linnet ! wild Linnet ! 



Some humble heart is sore and sick with grief, 

 And straight thou comest with thy gentle song 

 To wile the sufferer from his hate or wrong, 



By bringing Nature's love to his relief. 



Thou charmest by the sick child's window long, 

 Till racking pain itself be wooed to sleep ; 



And when away have vanished flower and leaf, 

 Thy lonely wailing voice for them doth weep 

 Linnet ! wild Linnet ! 



God saw how much of woe, and grief and care, 



Man's faults and follies on the earth would make ; 



And thee, sweet singer, for his creatures' sake, 

 He sent to warble wildly everywhere, 



And by thy voice our souls to love to wake. 



! blessed wandering spirit ! unto thee 

 Pure hearts are knit, as unto things too fair, 



And good, and beautiful, of earth to be 



Linnet ! wild Linnet ! 



THE GREEN LINNET (Linaria cliloris). Often called the 

 Greenfinch, sometimes the Green Grosbeak, or Green 

 Lintie. The length of this bird is about six inches and a 

 quarter. The prevailing colour of the plumage is green, 

 with grey and yellow shadings. It is a beautiful bird, 

 and tolerably plentiful, being found generally in all the 

 cultivated parts of Great Britain and Ireland, except in the 

 western and northern Scottish isles. It remains with us 

 throughout the year, changing its ground occasionally in 

 severe weather, to obtain more sheltered situations. Gar- 

 dens, orchards, shrubberies, copses, and arable lands in the 

 neighbourhood of woods, are the chief haunts of this species, 

 where it may be seen actively employed, sometimes on the 

 ground, sometimes in tall hedges, or among the branches of 



