184 THE CHRISTIAN NATURALIST. 



the migrations of many other tribes of animated na- 

 ture. In all these instances, however, we must con- 

 clude that nothing less than a Divine impulse guides 

 and directs them throughout their long journeyings. 

 Happy would it be for man if he were as forward to 

 obey the dictates of reason and revelation ! Happy 

 would it be for him if he were as ready, as these birds 

 of passage are, to anticipate the future, to catch the 

 first ominous, though distant sound of winter's stor- 

 my footsteps, and to plume the wings of faith and 

 hope, for a flight in due season to those peaceful 

 shores, where there shall be a refuge till the cloudy 

 and dark day be for ever passed away. 



The present season is, indeed, one which has many 

 objects to interest and awaken the attention of the 

 observer of nature. As an ingenious Naturalist ob- 

 serves, ' Every season has its peculiar product, and is 

 pleasing, or admirable, from causes that variously af- 

 fect our different tempers and dispositions ; but there 

 are accompaniments in an autumnal morning's wood- 

 land walk, that call for all our notice and admiration. 

 The peculiar feeling of the air, and the solemn gran- 

 deur of the scene around us, dispose the mind to con- 

 templation and remark ; there is a silence in which we 



