(Crass IL. mE DB RAS F: 
In joylefs fields, and thorny thickets, leaves 
His fhivering mates, and pays to trufted Man 
His annual vifit. Half afraid, he firt 
Againft the window beats; then, brifk, alights 
On the warm hearth; then, hopping o’er the floor, 
Eyes all the fmiling family afkance, 
And pecks, and ftarts, and wenden where he 1s: 
?T ull more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 
Attract his flender feet. 
The great beauty of that celebrated poet confifts in : 
his elegant and juft defcriptions of the ceconomy of | 
animals; and the happy ufe* he hath made of 
natural knowlege, in defcriptive poetry, fhines 
through almoft every page of his Seafons. ‘The 
affection this bird has for mankind, is alfo record- 
ed in that antient ballad, + The babes in the wood ; 
a compofition of a moft beautifull and pathetic 
fimplicity. It is the firft tryal of our humanity : 
the child that refrains from tears on hearing that 
read, gives but a bad prefage of the tendernefs of 
his future fenfations. 
In the fpring this bird retires to breed in the 
thickeft covers, or the moft concealed holes of walls 
and other buildings. The eggs are of a dull white, 
fprinkled with reddifh ee Its fong is remark- 
ably fine and foft; and the more to be valued, as 
we enjoy it the greateft part of the winter, and ear- 
ly in the fpring, and even through great part of 
* Vide our Preface. 
+} Religues of antient Zxgi/ Poetry, Vol. Ill. p. 170. 
the 
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