102 -NATURE AND THE POETS. 



or this from Beattie, 



"Through rustling corn the hare astonished sprang," 

 would not apply with the same force in New Eng 

 land, because our hare is never found in the fields, 

 but in dense, remote woods. In England both hares 

 and rabbits abound to such an extent that in places 

 the fields and meadows swarm with them, and the 

 ground is undermined by their burrows, till they be- 

 come a serious pest to the farmer, and are trapped in 

 vast numbers. The same remark applies to this from 

 Tennyson : 



" From the woods 

 Came voices of the well-contented doves." 



Doves and wood-pigeons are almost as abundant in 

 England as hares and rabbits, and are also a seri- 

 ous annoyance to the farmer, while in this country 

 the dove and pigeon are much less marked and per- 

 manent features in our rural scenery, less perma- 

 nent, except in the case of the mourning dove, which 

 is found here and there the season through ; and less 

 marked, except when the hordes of the passenger- 

 pigeon once in a decade or two invade the land, 

 rarely tarrying longer than the bands of a foraging 

 army. I hardly know what Trowbridge means by the 

 " wood-pigeon " in his midsummer poem, for, strictly 

 speaking, the wood-pigeon is a European bird, and a 

 very common one in England. But let me say here, 

 however, that Trowbridge, as a rule, keeps very close 

 to the natural history of his own country when he 

 has occasion to draw material from this source, and 



