56 THE PIGEON. 



In order to ascertain, with some degree of accuracy, the 

 speed of these curious birds, a gemleman, some years ago, sent 

 a carrier pigeon from London to a friend at Bury St. Edmund's, 

 and along with it a letter, requesting that the pigeon, two days 

 diter its arrival, might be thrown up precisely at nine o'clock in 

 the morning. This was attended to ; and the pigeon returned 

 to the Bull Inn, Bishopsgate-street, at half past eleven o'clock 

 of the same morning ; having travelled seventy-two miles in two 

 hours and a half. 



So great is the fecundity of this bird in its domestic state, that 

 from a single pair, nearly fifteen thousand may be produced in 

 the space of four years ; a circumstance which, joined to the 

 excellency of its flesh, shows its importance to man, and how 

 well it repays his care and attention. 



CHAPTER VII. 



" The thrush, 



And wood-lark, o'er the kind contending throng, 

 Superior heard, run thro' the sweetest length 

 Of notes; when list'ning Philomela deigns 

 To let them joy, and purposes in thought 

 Elate, to make her night excel their day. 

 The black-bird whistles from the thorny brake ; 

 The mellow bullfinch answers from the grove." 



Thomson. 



The class of the feathered creation to which our attention 

 will now be given, is one of which the different species are innu- 

 merable, and distinguished with endless variety. Of these, some 

 appear formed to delight us with the beauty, of their plumage, 

 others with the melody of their notes, and all contribute to en- 

 liven the rural scene and exhilarate the mind. 



Amidst so unbounded a variety of objects, all pleasing, all 

 interesting, the mind might expatiate with ceaseless activity, un- 

 wearied in the contemplation of the works of Him at whose al- 

 mighty fiat, Creation, with all its various forms, burst into ex- 

 istence. 



In order, however, to direct the attention to some fixed points 

 in the boundless immensity of the prospect before us, we shall 

 endeavour to make a selection of some of the most striking ob- 

 jects, and describe a few of the most famed of these winged in- 

 habitants of the woods, the groves, and the fields, which enliven 

 the face of Nature. 



