370 COMPARISONS. 



and unpretending, spring up on every fallen tree, and, 

 disguised under a thousand grotesque forms, prey upon, 

 and consume the decayed and putrefying wood. But 

 though these tall trees, shorn of all their pride and beauty, 

 as the poet Shelley says, in his poem of ' Queen Mab,' 

 in a beautiful simile : 



" Lie level with the earth to moulder there, 

 They fertilize the land they long deformed ; 

 Till from the breathing lawn a forest springs 

 Of youth, integrity, and loveliness, 

 Like that which gave it life, to spring and die." 



Whatever of grand or beautiful may be seen in the 

 forests of the torrid zone, yet the observer of nature, if 

 he be of European origin, will always sigh in vain for 

 certain simple signs of landscape scenery, and woodland 

 peculiarities once familiar to him in other lands. Where 

 will he find in Borneo or Celebes, commons covered with 

 purple blooming Heather, or brown dusky glens orna- 

 mented with the drooping bells of the Fox -glove, or snug 

 little coppices where the Wild Rose and the Hawthorn 

 mingle with the graceful Ash and silver-barked Birch? 

 Sombre, dense, and towering masses of foliage, trees 

 beyond trees in never ending avenues ; these take the 

 place of more lively rural scenes. And among the 

 feathered race, what birds, however gaudy their plumage, 

 or vivacious their movements, can vie with pretty Cock- 

 robin, the saucy Jay, or the pert chattering Magpie with 

 its long black tail ? Can the harsh scream of the Parrot 

 compare with the sweet melody of our summer songsters, 

 their plaintive monotony, or shrill pipings, or even with 

 the clamorous cawings of the Rooks that build their nests 

 on the tall Elm trees ? 



