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GOSSIP ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



R. H. MEADE, F.R.C.S 





Nature, enchanting nature . . . 

 strange that so fair a creature should yet want 

 Admirers, and be destined to divide 

 With meaner objects, ev'n the few she finds ! — Cowpkk 



The advent of spring always brings great pleasure to the naturalist. 

 He hails with delight the awakening of nature from her winter 



5 1U tllN - «."«."^"«* 



sleep, when the flowers begin to blossom, the hibernating animals 

 to arouse from slumber, and the migrator)" birds to return from 

 their southern travels. 



How sweet it is to see the fields and trees turning green, to 

 notice the Catkins on the Willows, and to hear the Cuckoo ! 



Birds are among our earliest harbingers- of spring: besides the 

 true migrants there are some which remove from one part of the 

 same country to another at different seasons ; and others which 

 have a fondness for breeding in or near human habitations, but 

 retire to the woods and fields when they have reared their families. 



I 



Jackda 



are fond of each other's society, and flock together in the autumn 

 and winter in great numbers. 



Starlings (Stumus vulgaris), often called Stares or Sheepstares 

 (I suppose from their habit of often sitting upon a Sheep's back), 

 are very pretty birds and very clever and amusing when tamed : 

 they somewhat resemble the Blackbird at a distance, but are less 

 elegant in shape, want the dark rich yellow beak of the male, and 

 when looking for worms upon the lawn may be noticed to run or 

 walk, instead of hopping like a Blackbird. They are very fond 



kji and when congregated in flocks in the evening have 

 been heard to use a variety of notes a if they were talking to each 

 other, and relating their day's adventures before going to sleep. 



be 



' 



spring. The Rev. Leonard Jenyns, in his list of periodic phenomena. 

 ives the 2 1 st of January as the mean day that they resort to build- 

 ings, says that their young are fledged by the 19th of May, and that 

 they collect in flocks by the 24th of August. The same author 

 gives the 18th of February as the date when Jackdaws (Cor v its 

 monedula) resort to steeples and chimneys, and the 3rd of March as 

 the time for Rooks (C. frugilegtis) to begin to build, 

 remember, however, that Mr. Jenyns lived in Cambndgest 



We must 



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