PLEASURES OF ORNITHOLOGY. 21 



On the ice-clifF they citadels erect ;(') 



Now for support and shelter in the south 



Come the Anatid, CygninCy Alcady{'^) groups ; 



The Scolopacids (^) too ; — the Woodcock(*) — Snipe{') — 



Innumerous more Grallators ; — Merulids{^) 



Also retreat before benumbing frost 



And strew our fields with life, what time the snow 



A fleecy mantle drops upon the earth, 



Till, winter pass'd, they flee again away, 



Rejoicing in the summer of the north. 



Still on your patience may the song intrude ? 

 Still will YE listen to the musing strain 

 Of one who would your better judgment aid. 



(0 It is a singular, yet authenticated fact, that gome sea-birds 

 make icebergs their retreat iu tempestuous weather, sleep there, 

 4nd there too occasionally hatch their young ! 



{j^) A lead group, birds of the Auk tribe.— (3) ScoZopaciV*, 

 birds of the Snipe tribe.— (+) Scolopax rusticola. — (^)Scolopax 

 gallinagOj or Common Snipe.— (6) Merulids: as the Turdus 

 pilaris, or Fieldfare, and the Redwing, Turdus iliacus. This 

 last bird sings, it is said, in the breeding season, in Norway and 

 Sweden, equal to the Song-Thrush of this country ; indeed 

 a Friend, at Trowbridge, (J. N. C. esq.,) informs me that the 

 Redwing occasionally sings in this country before its departure 

 in the spring. See the end of the Poem, 



