BRITISH SONG-BIRDS. 115 



The gale brings music! and, in strains of sorrow. 

 Stealing along the glen, so sad, so sweet, 

 Some elfin harp is surely strung to sadness; 

 Or 'tis the requiem chaunt of holy men. 

 For km'ghtor palmer gone, — or wailing dirge 

 Of some lone minstrel, for the brave and good. 

 Tho' mournful is the strain, no mourner sings : 

 It is the vesper hymn of some sweet bird 

 Chaunting his evening lay to yon bright star, 

 The while, the plaintive cadence soothes his mate. 



Anonymous^ 



THE BLACKCAP. 



MOCK NIGHTINGALE, OR NETTLE CREEPER. 



ricapilla; linn^us. — la fauvette a TETE 

 noire; buffon. 



The Blackcap is truly a most delightful war- 

 bler, and may be ranked as second in the class of 



