303 

 LETTER XLV1L 



And wood-lark, e'er the kind contending thren* 

 Superior heard, run thro' the sweetest length 

 Of notes j when list'ning PhilomeJa deigns 

 To lei them joy, and purposes in thought 

 Elate, to make her night excel their day. 

 The blackbird whistles from the thorn}' brake; 

 The radio* btvlfinch answers from the grove." 



THOM80N. 



fcEAR SIR, 



I NOW beg leave to call your attention to a class of 

 the feathered creation of which the different species 

 are innumerable, and distinguished with endless va- 

 riety. Of these some appear formed to delight us. 

 with the beauty of their plumage, others with the 

 melody of their notes, and all contribute to enliven 

 the rural scene and exhilerate the mind. 



Amidst so unbounded a variety of objects, all pleas- 

 ing, all interesting, the mind might expatiate with 

 ceaseless activity, unwearied in the contemplation of 

 the works of Him at whose almighty fiat,. Cceation,> 

 with all its various forms, burst into existence*. 



In order, however, my dear Sir,, to direct your at- 

 tention to some fixed points in the boundless immen- 

 sity of the prospect before you, I will endeavour to- 

 make a selection of some of the most striking objects, 

 and entertain you with a description of a few of the- 

 most famed of these winged inhabitants of the woods,, 

 the groves, and the fields,. which, enliven the face of 

 nature. 



THE THRUSH 



is extensively diffused, and admits of not less than' 

 130 diilerent species; of which the most remarkable 

 at least in this country, are the missel-thrush, the 

 throstle, or song-thr.uh, the field-fare, the red-wing, 

 and the black-bird^ 



The missel and the throstle differ chiefly in size. 

 The former, indeed, is the largest of the.genusj being 



