NATURE IN APRIL. II. 65 



It is indeed a pleasing symbolic this arrival of our feathered 

 visitors. Has the reader ever noticed the many ways in which 

 the poets have thought fit to compare men and things to birds? 



I will give an instance to illustrate my meaning. Blanche 

 Lindsay in a Persian love song says : 



"As a rose to the nightingale sweet I would be," 



and then again, 



"What is love but a bird that would touch the blue sky." 



I presume that Blanche Lindsay had in her mind in the last 

 quotation, the Skylark, and this reminds me that probably more 

 poets have made this bird the subject of their muses than any 

 other, notably, Shelley, Wordsworth, Eric Mackay, and James 

 Hogg the Ettrick shepherd. 



There is such a fascination about these beautiful creatures 

 which Nature has so graciously bestowed upon us, that makes 

 it incumbent for us to sing their praises, and set forth their 

 glorious traits of character. So happy and contented they seem 

 to be. True the House Sparrow has family troubles at times, 

 the Robin allows no other relation to intrude upon its chosen 

 walk, the sagacious Rooks are very wrath at newcomers, and 

 so on, but, generally speaking, the feathered race, in fact the 

 animal world at large, portray striking evidences of peace and 

 tranquillity. 



They seem so conscious of protection, but do they always get 

 it? I think not. Does not the highly-prized, but fast disappearing, 

 Goldfinch, suffer from endless molestation ? Does not the Linnet 

 diminish in numbers year by year in a truly lamentable manner ? 

 What could one desire better than a Linnet chorus in the con- 

 cert hall of Nature? The blue azure sky for a roof; grass, 

 soft as velvet, as the floor; fine trees to throw long shadows 

 at eventide, and a gorgeously tinted rainbow thrown across the 

 canopy of heaven 1 Think, too, of the thousands of Skylarks 

 which are strung up in the poulterers' shops throughout the 

 Winter. Is this the way we appreciate the minstrel of liberty 

 and love? 



April brings all such thoughts as these to the mind of the 



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