• 







April 12, the Cowslip (Primula verisj flowers, when the Cuckoo comes. 



This herb, usually esteemed " as the sweet emblem of renovated Nature," so cheerfully 

 culled in every field, rises upon a slender scape, and hangs beautifully its tawny cups upon 

 numerous peduncles, which issue from a common centre. 



APRIL SONG. 



Now Daisies pied, and Vilets blue, 



And Lady-smocks all silver white, 

 And Cuckoo-bads of yellow hue, 



Do paint the meadows with delight; 

 And cuckoo now on every tree 

 Mocks married men, for thus sings he. 



Cuckoo! Cuckoo!— O word of fear, 



Ungrateful to a married ear! 



Shakspeare. 



I 



i 



ADDRESS TO THE CUCKOO. 



Hail, beauteous stranger of the wood, 



Attendant on the Spring! 

 Now heaven repairs thy rural seat, 



And woods thy welcome sing. 



Soon as the cowslip decks the green 

 Thy certain voice we hear; 



Hast thou a star to guide thy path, 

 Or mark the rolling year? 



Delightful visitant! with thee' 



I hail the time of flowers, 

 When heaven is fill'd with music sweet 



Of birds among the bow'rs. 



The school-boy, wandering in the wood 



To pull the flowers so gay, 



Starts, thy curious voice to hear, 



And imitates thy lay.* 



Logan. 



• Besides the discovery of the Vaccine Disease as a substitute for the small pox, we are indebted to Dr. Jenner for a very curious and inte- 

 history of the Cuckoo. This learned naturalist says the male only has the note of love. Being destined to remain but a short period 

 ^ CS «r island the hen bird deposits her eggs in another's nest, as if conscious that fate impelled her to fly before the period of their hatching. 

 The young Cuckoo follows afterwards, and has a conformation peculiar to itself. There is a hollow on the back, upon which it seats the 

 other birds of a different sort, and thus placed, its next step is to raise itself, and turning on one side to shelve the nest, which it enjoys alone. 

 When the hollow in the back is no longer wanted, it is filled up, and the young cuckoo is then shaped like other birds. The note of the 

 E tt n among the reeds, from a pectinated claw, which it strikes against the reeds, of one of the digitations, is another doubtful point settled 

 h th te observation of this illustrious benefactor of mankind, and promoter of the science of natural history. For a full account of these 



Id' coveries vide my work, entitled Facts decisive in favour of the Cow Pox, with the Evidence delivered before the Honourable 

 7he Committee of the House of Commons, and the Philosophical Transactions. 



