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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



the pigeon so to cling to the place of its birth. 

 We have known some remarkable instances of 

 it ; nor could any kindness entice the birds away. 

 We would recommend you to have a small pigeon- 

 house made, with two holes, — the cost will be 

 trifling. Then procure another pigeon, and let the 

 two become choice friends of yours. It is evident 

 that your tender heart has fairly captivated the 

 one ; the other would as naturally yield to the 

 same sweet influence. Kindness and affection, we 

 know of old, are your chief characteristics. You 

 are a "pet" of ours (this we hardly need tell you); 

 although it is so long since we have received a 

 communication from your pen. We hope the next 

 is not far distant.] 



Observations on the Weather at JBarnsley, 

 during February. — The quantity of rain or snow 

 which fell in the month of February is small, 

 averaging but l£ inches, falling on twelve re- 

 spective days, but sometimes in barely perceptible 

 quantities : the greatest amount fell during the 

 night of the 19th, one fourth of an inch ; this had 

 been preceded by a good fall of snow, on the 1 7th, 

 followed by a sharp frost, on the 18th, producing 

 ice on the shallow pools, from seven to thirteen 

 inches thick. The barometer has ranged high ; 

 its greatest elevation being 30-50 inches, on the 

 13th and 14th; its lowest was twenty-nine inches, 

 on the 17th ; the general state of the weather has 

 corresponded with that of the barometer. The 

 lowest recorded position of the thermometer, in the 

 town was 31°, on the 17th, in the country about 

 29°, lower probably during the night, the highest 

 was 51° at mid-day on the 6th. The wind has 

 been variable, the quarters from which it has 

 principally blown are the W., NW., and N. by 

 W. ; often from these points with great force ; 

 we have had also S. by E. and SW. winds. In- 

 the month that is just gone by, there has been an 

 interchange of cloudy and bright days; during 

 some of tho latter, in the intervals of the boisterous 

 gales, there was a joyous Spring feeling, with which 

 our resident warblers have gladdened the woods 

 and fields. The concerts of redwings and starlings 

 had been occasionally noted, by the practised ear, 

 through the winter — the small birds being 

 generally silent — but when 



"The thaw-air breathed, first noiseless as a dream, 

 Then a sweet voice, like Hope's, when long 



deferr'd 

 The promise comes, burst from a new-wak'd bird, 

 Piping glad notes o'er Winter's hoary bier." 



This herald of the woodland chorus was " sweet 

 robin," on the first day of the thaw, January 17th, 

 followed by the grey linnet, the common bunting, 

 the hedge-warbler or dunnock, the skylark, the 

 titmouse or bluecap, and the thrush — all before the 

 mouth closed. The lengthening days of February 

 ushered in succesively the strains of the jenny 

 wren, the storm-cock (both probably heard earlier 

 by other observers), the goldfinch (a treat never 

 experienced by me, to hear this beautiful bird 

 here in its free state — such havoc the gunners and 

 netters make with our rarest birds !) and, lastly, as 

 coming within my notice, the merry chaffinch or 

 " spink," and the pleasing but monotonous yellow- 

 hammer. All our resident songsters, except the 

 blackbird, have been heard ; and doubtless his 



mellow note has cheered some districts. Young 

 naturalists will do well to master the notes of 

 these our home birds, to prepare for the Spring 

 visitants after the close of the month, now com- 

 menced with such bright promise. — Thomas 

 Lister, JBarnsley, March 10th. 



A Peep at " April.'" — April is the year just 

 verging into maidenhood, and still wearing some- 

 thing of the same girlish look ; but a little more 

 staid and shy than when she went romping about 

 with the mad, wild winds of March. She wears 

 a dress of sweet Spring green, that sets becomingly 

 upon her round and budding form, and shows how 

 graceful and comely she will be in the full Summer 

 of her beauty. She is now called by the endear- 

 ing name of Spring, and her delight is to wander 

 abroad and watch the red and white blossoms of 

 the fruit-trees open, and to see the bees issue forth 

 in quest of the early flowers, while she listens to 

 their low, melodious murmur; or to note what new 

 birds come over the sunny sea every day, to that 

 great mustering of music which is now awaken- 

 ing the echoes of our old English woods. Child- 

 ren, when they see her, rush out in the city streets, 

 and on the village roads, and cry aloud, " Sweet 

 Spring has come again;" while around her head 

 the returning swallows twitter, and the bees make 

 a buzzing about her feet among the violets, which 

 are "sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes;" though 

 not more blue and beautiful than her own, in 

 which the light shifts and changes, just like her 

 ever-changing April skies. Her long green gar- 

 ment is fringed with anemones and the white dew- 

 like lilies of the valley ; and spotted all over with 

 silver daisies, which show like stars upon the 

 ground of green ; while her golden ringlets fall upon 

 the blue veined ivory of her neck like the flowers 

 of the acacia stirring in the wind, and sparkling 

 in the sunshine ; and the hue of her fair complex- 

 ion outrivals the red and white of her own April 

 apple-blossoms. All her tastes are elegant, all 

 her amusements innocent ; and though changeable 

 at times, and pouting her lips, while the tear, ever 

 ready to fall, swims in the azure of her eye, still 

 she is young and fair and beautiful, and all these 

 changes become her well — for the tear that at one 

 moment melts into sorrow, the next glitters in the 

 sunshine of her smile. Her voice is so sweet, that 

 it allures back the birds ; and the silver-tongued 

 nightingale when he hears it, thinking it is his mate 

 who calls, hurries back to the bowery hollows, 

 which are haunted with old memories of music 

 and love. Now the bullfinches, though they re- 

 ward us with a song, are busy among the buds and 

 blossoms, selecting only the fruit-buds to feed upon ; 

 and the destruction they cause to the fruit is very 

 great, as may be perceived by looking under a 

 tree on which they have been feeding, when the 

 ground will be found strewn with the refuse of 

 the buds they have rejected ; they are called 

 " pick-a-buds" in many places, on account of their 

 destructive habits. Anglers sally forth with fish- 

 ing apparatus, this month, to the breezy river -sides, 

 and the running streams that flow clear as silver 

 through the daisy-diapered meadows. Pleasant it 

 is to listen to the waving of the willow, the lapping 

 of the water, the murmur of the bees, and the 

 singing of the birds on a sunny morning in April, 

 while standing on the river-banks and watching 



