2SA 



BRITISH SONG BIRDS. 



THE sweetest music of Nature is the singing of those little angels of 

 the trees the birds. It gladdens the heart to hear their " wood 

 notes wild" ringing through those great cathedrals the woods, whose 

 tall green pillars are reared by the wonder- working hand of God. 

 Their song seems to make the sunshine brighter; and we have often 

 fancied we could see the golden rays darting, and flashing, and keep- 

 ing time to their warblings. No doubt when long-haired Eve wandered 

 through Eden, and Adam wove for her a bower of blushing roses, that 

 the birds sang the self-same tunes which they do now, and that the 

 angels often listened to them when they " walked in the garden in the 

 cool of the day."* In all ages, in all countries, as far back as we 

 have any records of time, the singing of birds has given delight to 

 mankind ; and they must many a time have gladdened the heart of 

 Noah and his family when he sailed over the wide waste of waters in 

 the ark ; and the children that were with him would listen and recal 

 the green nestling places, then deep down beneath the waves, where 

 the sweet- voiced birds built and sang. 



Everything about a singing bird is beautiful; the very nest ib 

 builds, the eggs it lays, are all objects of beauty. As for their songs, 

 they seem sent to gladden the hearts of mankind, as the flowers de- 

 light the eyes of the beholders. Even the cheerful trills of the little 

 captives when caged in their wired prisons in some dingy apartment 



* " They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of 

 the day." Genesis iii. 8. 



