No. 8. 



Pivfessional Life — Birds. 



237 



Gocd celery oucfht to be solid, thoroughly 

 blanched, and of large size, and perfectly 

 clear of any blemish, such as rust or canker. 



Professional liifc* 



The ambition of adopting " professional 

 life," of all kinds, at the present day, is the 

 source of countless instances of mi.^ery. 

 Every profession in England is overstocked ; 

 not merely the prizes are beyond the general 

 reach, but the merest subsistence becomes 

 difficult. The " three black graces, law, 

 physic, and divinity," are weary of their in 

 numerable worshippers, and yearly sentence 

 crowds of them to perish of the aching sense 

 of failure. A few glittering successes allure 

 the multitude; chancellorships, bishoprics, 

 and regiments figure before the public eye ; 

 and every aspirant from the cottage, and the 

 more foolish parents of every aspirant, set 

 down the bauble as gained when they have 

 once plunged their unlucky offspring into the 

 sea of troubles, which men call the world. 

 But thousands have dietl of broken hearts in 

 these pursuits, thousands who would have 

 been happy behind the plough, or opulent be- 

 hind the counter; thousands, in the desperate 

 struggles of thankless professions, look upon 

 the simplicity of a life of manual labour with 

 perpetual envy ; and thousands, by a worse 

 late still, are driven to necessities which de- 

 grade the principles of honour with them, ac- 

 custom them to humiliating modes of obtain- 

 ing subsistence, and make up, by administer- 

 ing to the vices of society, the livelihood 

 which was refused to their legitimate e.xer- 

 tion . — Black wood. 



Benevolence in Bircls-«»»Tlicir Usefiil- 

 nessj &c« 



The communication of H. C. in the Farm- 

 er of the 5th inst., relative to the canker- 

 worm, in which he says the only efl^ectual 

 remedy against these insects known to him is 

 " the encouragement of birds," brings fresh 

 to our recollection some reminisences re- 

 specting this persecuted, interesting, and use- 

 ful race, which we think will be pleasing to 

 onr readers, particularly to the younger ones. 

 We can hardly say with the writer of the 

 article, that " killing a small bird should be 

 placed in our penal code next to killing a 

 child ;" but we do say that it ought to be met 

 with a punishment sufficient to prevent the 

 destruction which annually takes place, in 

 mere wantonness or sport, among the inno- 

 cent songsters of our groves and orchards. 

 We have been almost disposed in times past 

 to bring the boys before Judge Lynch, and 

 might prohably have done it could we have 

 put our hands upon them. 



While residing in Lancaster a few years 

 since, we were located near the rivdr which 

 runs through the town, whose banks and in- 

 tervals are ornamented with numerous fine 

 elms and other trees, wliich add nnich to the 

 beauty of this pleasant village: in these trees 

 the birds congregate in great numbers, and 

 rear their young. A gigantic elm, the ad- 

 miration of travellers and the pride of the vil- 

 lage, threw out its wide spreading branches 

 over the cottage in which we dwelt, and 

 while it shielded us from the scorchinc sun, 

 afforded in its ample head, (a forest almost in 

 itself,) a secure retreat for a great variety of 

 birds, whose movements afix)rded much amuse- 

 ment for the family. Among these birds 

 were a pair of crow black-birds, who had se- 

 lected the fork of a partly decayed limb very 

 high in the tree, as a place to build their nest 

 and rear their young. Having in my juven- 

 ile days some prejudice against this bird, as I 

 was taught, that with tlie crow it would dig 

 up the newly sprouted corn, and commit sun- 

 dry other depredations, I therefore viewed 

 them with a suspicious eye as 1 saw them in 

 company from day to day upon my newly 

 planted grounds, busily engaged in helping 

 themselves to what they liked best. I satis- 

 fied myself soon, however, that they had been 

 vilely slandered, and that they were friends 

 and not enemies : it was evident they were 

 clearing my grounds of grubs and worms at 

 a great rate. They soon found that I was no 

 enemy to them, and consequently became 

 quite tame and familiar, following the plough 

 or harrow with nearly as much confidence as 

 the domestic fowls. It appeared that there 

 was a gooil state of feeling among the nume- 

 rous tribes that inhabited the tree, consisting 

 as they did of so many families, embracing 

 the robin, blue-bird, sparrow, golden robin, 

 and a variety of others, and things seemed to 

 prosper among- them and go on well, until 

 the night before old fashioned " 'lection," (a 

 fatal day to the feathered tribe :) during that 

 night there was a very high wind : early in 

 the morning I was awakened by an unusual 

 clamor among the birds, and rose to ascertain 

 the cause — I found that the decayed limb, on 

 the fork of which was the crow-black-bird's 

 nest, had been broken off by the wind, and 

 the nest and contents, (five young ones,) pre- 

 cipitated to the ground, and that four of them 

 were dead or dying. The surviving one was 

 nearly fledged, and could fly a little. I 

 picked it up from the grass, and placed it in 

 a secure situation, supposing the distressed 

 parents would take care of it. The old ones 

 continued their clamor all the morning, which, 

 with the sympathizing cries of the other birds, 

 formed a melancholy concert. 



While the black-birds had perched upon a 

 neighbouring tree near the road, still giving 



