K[DD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



243 



THE NECKLACE. 



Nay, bind not on that snowy neck 

 Rich pearls, and sparkling chains ; 



Its beauty needs no aid to deck, 

 Save its own azure veins. 



I cannot bear those links should hide 



A bosom fair as thine ; 

 Nor veil beneath their jewell'd pride 



Love's dear and fragrant shrine. 



A ruby mark adorns thy breast 

 Whose tints some fairy wove, 



Whose glow my lip has fondly prest, — 

 "lis Nature's gem I love ! 



Remember how I've blest that spot, 



And felt thy bosom thrill 

 Beneath my kiss ; — then hide it not, 



Give me its beauty still ! 



'Twere shame to veil the smallest part 



Of that transparent skin ; 

 Take off, take off that jewelled heart, 



There's one more rich within ! 



The worm may weave its web of gold 



To hide it from the sun ; 

 But bursting from its silken fold, 



The butterfly needs none. 



In Nature's plumes, the stately swan 



Floats o'er the crystal lake ! 

 Undeck'd by art, the graceful fawn 



Springs lightly from the brake. 



And who would tint the drifted snow, 



Or gem the ocean's spray ; 

 Or gild the morning's early glow ! — 



Yet thou art fair as they ! 



Then go, let glistening gauds be tried 



By others, — not by tJiee ; 

 Thou hast not one defect to hide, 



The lily's not more free. 



Yet, if thou wilt a necklace wear, 



Give me its links to twine ; 

 Come to these arms, and find it here, 

 " Love's necklace''' shall be thine ! — 



M. G. S. 

 From Kidd's Journal, May 30, 1840. 



MAY-EVENING. 



Come, and hear the lav'rock's vespers 

 Sounding sweetly through the dell ; 



Come, and hear the melting whispers 

 Lightly echo'd by the gale. 



Phoebus gilds the hills in splendor ; 



Luna brings the ev'ning's close : 

 Twilight sues, with accents tender, 



Wearied Nature to repose. 



Come, — the birds with love are burning, 

 Sweet they sing, in sportive glee ; 



While, to hives of joy returning, 

 Wings the laden merry bee. 



Then, oh, leave all baneful pleasures ; 



Rove, with me, o'er hill and lea ; 

 May unfolds her flowery treasures — 



Come, then, come ! — she waits for thee. 



D. S. B. 



ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 



7he Starling. — The starling has already been 

 noticed in our Journal, both in laudatory and 

 disparaging terms. I must say he is a special 

 favorite of mine. I like his free and confiding 

 habits. I admire his glossy and glittering plu- 

 mage. I love to see him marching, in double-quick 

 time, over my lawn, inquest of worms and insects ; 

 I enjoy his soft and musical whistle, as he sits, in 

 an autumnal morning, basking on the top of some 

 tree that catches the first rays of the rising sun. 

 I doubt not that the amount of good effected by 

 starlings in the destruction of predatory insects, 

 must far outweigh the little mischief they may do 

 in an occasional visit to the cherry garden. In 

 this agricultural district they are constantly to be 

 seen on the backs of the sheep, relieving those 

 animals of vermin ; and the sheep seem well 

 aware that their visitors are engaged in a very 

 neighborly occupation. But my present object is 

 to notice an accusation made against starlings, 

 which I remember to have heard ever since I first 

 took an interest in the feathered tribes ; viz. that 

 being given to intrude in pigeon-houses, they are 

 in the habit of destroying both the eggs and young 

 of the pigeons. Yarrell has alluded to the accusation. 

 Without offering his own opinion on the subject he 

 says, " Starlings frequently roost in pigeon houses, 

 and are accused of destroying both eggs and young 

 pigeons. This has been doubted ; I can substan- 

 tiate no charge on my own knowledge," &c. Now 

 evil reports, although oftentimes altogether false, 

 and generally exaggerated, have frequently at 

 least some foundation. I had often sought for 

 information on the point in question, from obser- 

 vers of nature : but, for a long time, could learn 

 nothing that was satisfactory. However, I was 

 at length enabled to satisfy myself as to what I 

 consider the origin of the charge against, and the 

 amount of capability in the starling. When I 

 first resided amidst the hills of North Hants, — 

 6ome twenty years since, starlings were rare ; 

 now they abound. I wish I could add, that fitting 

 places for nidification abounded also. But no ; in 

 these utilitarian days, if a sound tree happily 

 escape the axe, a pollard, or a tree with a hole in 

 it, has no chance of long adding to the picturesque 

 of the neighborhood. The starlings consequently 

 occupy every available position — the eaves, the 

 thatch, the chimney of the cottage, the barn, the 

 church tower ; and, as an especially comfortable 

 retreat, they share with the pigeons the tenantry 

 of the dovecote. Conversing with an observant 

 neighbor about the inmates of his pigeon-house, 

 he accidentally remarked the circumstance of his 

 occasionally losing young pigeons from the intru- 

 sion of the starlings. The remark of course caught 

 my attention ; and, on following up the conversa- 

 tion, I learnt that the starling, being a bold and 

 pugnacious bird, after taking possession of a hole 

 for nidification in the vicinity of a pigeon similarly 

 engaged, will frequently attack the latter. On 

 such occasions the pigeon, from its timid and un- 

 warlike habits, not only gives way, but is led some- 

 times to forsake its eggs, and even its young, in 

 terror of the powerful and sharp beak of its neigh- 

 bor. It appears to me, that the circumstances 

 just narrated may be fairly regarded as explana- 

 tory of the origin of the accusation against the 



