66 SPRING-TIDE. 



the throstle, the ouzel, and the whole tribe 

 of songsters have commenced their hosan- 

 nahs. Every insect is on the move, the 

 grasshopper bestirs himself, and the spider 

 looks out on his dew-bespangled tracery. 

 The morning-star is fading before the ap- 

 proach of day. The owl, weary of night- 

 prowling, hurries away to his retreat in 

 the old barn ; and the magpie in yonder 

 elm, with his pert chatter, provokes the 

 jay in the thicket : 



" The jay, the rook, the daw, 



And each harsh pipe (discordant heard alone) 

 Aid the full concert, while the stock-dove breathes 

 A melancholy murmur through the whole." 



J. What a strange nest the magpie 

 builds ! I remember, when a boy, try- 

 ing to rob one and scratching my hands 

 sadly. 



S. It is certainly a curious piece of 

 bird-architecture, and shows the superior 

 cunning of the pie to the rook and the 



