BIRD LIFE, ETC. 147 



it cannot be foolish in us to study their habits, provided 

 we look upon them with relation to the author of their 

 being. However, let us go on : they have flown, and 

 you see that they move about in flocks, that is, are 

 gregarious at this season, as many species of small birds 

 are in winter, the lark, for example, linnets, and buntings. 

 Before us are some birds in the hedge, chaffinches, which, 

 as you observe, fly in a manner somewhat different from 

 that of the sparrows. Then, the rooks, which you see 

 high in the air, moving steadily and sedately along, with 

 regularly-timed beats of their expanded wings, and now, 

 as if seized with some sudden panic, or impelled by some 

 frolicsome propensity, dashing down headlong, crossing 

 each other, whirling and undulating : how different is 

 their flight from that of those wood pigeons, which 

 advance with rapidity, moving their wings with quick 

 strokes, and making the air whistle as they glide along ; 

 while the two white gulls, with their outstretched, long, 

 arched wings, float buoyantly in the clear sky, bending 

 gently to either side, as they advance from the sea. 

 British Birds, vol. i. p. 238. 



4. A LOVER OF NATURE AUDUBON. 



We are all school-boys, or at least scholars, and when 

 we forget that we are so, we become fools. If we go to 

 the school of Nature, and study God's providence, we 

 can be better employed only when in the school of 

 revelation we study God's grace. Let us ever retain 



