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CHAPTER IV. 



THE BIRDS OF THE GREEN LANES. 



might be the floral beaaty 

 of our lanes and fields, more than 

 half their charm would be gone if 

 the birds went. Apart from the 

 music of their songs, which fills the air and engages 

 one's ear, their movements create an animation 

 whose absence we can hardly realize. Even in 

 winter, when the time of the singing birds is gone, 

 the sharp cries of the sparrows, or the plaintive 

 notes of the robin and tit, relieve the lanes of tLeir 

 loneliness. We associate the most pleasing of out- 

 door recollections with birds and flowers, which 

 have served as themes to poets of all ages and climes. 

 It is impossible for the most non-naturalist of pe- 

 destrians not to be amused as well as interested by 

 our feathery tribes. Birds-nesting has attracted 

 many a young naturalist, and made him such ; and 

 as a rule, we generally find that our most distin- 

 guished men in this department of natural science 

 first acquired their tastes in such a manner. 



