TIIK THRUSH. 3 



human sorrow. Tt is well, if, while listening to 

 the W(t«Hlland minstrels, we can find ourselves 

 earned away tor awhile from earthly thouglits and 

 memories, an<l can t'ccl as did the good Isaac Wal- 

 tnii. \\v who looked with such delight on green 

 fields, was gladdened, too, by the song of the 

 hirds. *' The nightingale,'' he says, " another of 

 my airy creatures, breathes such sweet, loud 

 nmsicke out of her instnnnental throat, that it 

 mii^dit make mankind to think miracles are not 

 ceased. He, that at midnight, when the very 

 lal>ourer sleeps securely, should hear, as 1 have, 

 very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, the 

 natural rising and falling, the doubling and re- 

 doubling of her voice, might well be lifted up above 

 cjirth, and say, Lord, what musicke hast thou ])ro- 

 vided tor the saints in heaven, when thou affordest 

 bad men such musicke on earth ! " 



Among our native birds there are none which 

 have greater powers of song than the Merulida?, 

 or Thrush tribe, and they are, too, among our 

 earliest singers. The common thrush {7\(rilus 

 mwficius) may often be heard singing on a clear day 

 in Febniary, and its song, which accjuircs p^eater 

 strength and fulness as the sprhig advances, is 



