KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



115 



sects; beetles and ants predominating, j 

 may safely say that every other stone you 

 turn over, has a colony of red ants under it. 

 The moment the stone is upset, what a fuss 

 takes place among the household ! Each 

 seizes an egg, and away he goes, disappear- 

 ing into a hole underground — no doubt the 

 way to the cellar. 



In about two minutes, so quick are they 

 in their movements, every egg has dis- 

 appeared. Well may the passage occur in 

 Holy Writ, " Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; 

 consider her ways and be wise ! " 



J. M. J. 



BIRDS OF SONG. 



No. XXIII.— THE BLACK-CAP. 



On reviewing what has been written 

 of the Nightingale, we feel satisfied that 

 nothing of any importance has been omitted. 

 More than this. By the careful step-by- 

 step method we have adopted whilst discuss- 

 ing the habits and food of the bird, and by 

 speaking at much length on the proper mode 

 of his general treatment, — we have gone over 

 a great deal of ground which need not be 

 gone over, in detail, again. The warblers 

 to a certain extent, be it observed, are of one 

 family; and much that concerns the one 

 concerns the whole tribe.— We come, next in 

 order, to speak of the Black-cap. 



We are, at this time of writing, in the very 

 midst of summer ; and this is just the time to 

 listen to the black-cap's song. Not that his 

 song is more beautiful now, than it has been ; 

 but because most other birds have been silen- 

 ced by the heat, and by those laws of Nature 

 which seem to rule the habits of nearly all 

 our summer birds at this season. Hence our 

 attention is less distraught. Our ear, too, is 

 more delicately fine. 



Accustomed as we are to range the fields 

 on every seventh day of the week, many new 

 and pleasing facts connected with the 

 "Natural History of the year" come neces- 

 sarily under our observation. Sometimes on 

 Sabbath days, — 



*■' The woods we make our 'church ; ' our preacher 



boughs, — 

 Whispering-high homilies through leafy lips. 

 Lo ! Worshippers in every bee that sips 

 Sweet cordial from the tiniest flower that grows 

 'Mid the young grass; and in each bird that dips 

 Light pinions in the sunshine, as it throws 

 Gold showers upon green trees.— All things around 

 Are full of praise to God !" — 



On such occasions, as we ramble onward, 

 and explore the most favorite abodes of our 

 little winged friends, we are well able to 

 note the cessation of song in any particular 

 bird, during the past few days. It is curious 

 and interesting to observe how, one by one, 



well-known voices all at once become silent ; 

 whilst others, considerably modulated, are 

 still distinguishable, as if their owners were 

 reluctant to cease singing altogether. 'Tis 

 now that the lazy hum of exhausted insects 

 breaks upon the ear ; and when Nature, in a 

 state of universal repose, lulls all active life 

 into a state of pleasing stupor. 



At this very season it is, that our hero, 

 the black-cap, on his elevated perch, distils 

 upon us the dew of his flute-like voice, and 

 charms us with the richness of his happy 

 note. It is quite a mistake in modern 

 writers, echoing back the short-sighted sen- 

 timents of those who lived in " the light of 

 other days," to call him a wild bird ; and to 

 say that he shuns mankind as if they were 

 his enemy. This assertion is ridiculously 

 false ; for, next to the robin, he is one of our 

 most domestic, household birds. Walk 

 whither you will, — along the high road, in 

 an orchard, a garden, a bye-lane, or a field ; 

 there shall you find, crossing your path in 

 all directions, our good friend, the black- cap. 

 Nor does he fail to make you see him, and 

 hear him. He tells you plainly, and in the 

 most musical of all musical strains, that he 

 loves your company, and that he will escort 

 you hither and thither. His seat is always 

 on a lofty tree, and he usually sings with 

 one leg slightly elevated above the other, 

 — his little body being hidden by the 

 leaves. When you move, he moves. It is 

 a pleasing fact, that you can scarcely ever 

 walk abroad at this season, without some 

 one of his family presenting himself to sing 

 to you by the way. 



This is the precise time of the year in 

 wjrich to admire the affectionate tenderness 

 of the black-cap's " better half." Never 

 was wife more amiable, never was mother 

 more sedulous and self-denying. Observe, 

 how busily she is now occupied in feeding 

 her five callow offspring, in yonder Haw- 

 thorn ! See how unceasingly, yet cautiously 

 she flies backwards and forwards with some 

 sweet morsel in her bill ; and how overjoyed 

 her little family are, to listen to her approach 

 and to partake of her savory provision ! 



Then again shall you note another parent, 

 full of maternal solicitude for her children 

 who have just quitted their cradle. How 

 carefully she instils into their infant minds 

 the necessity for their being ever on the 

 watch ; and how warily she coaxes them into 

 the shadiest thickets ! Well does she know, 

 by an instinct bordering very closely on 

 reason, that those iron-hearted butchers, 

 the bird-catchers, are even now in their 

 wake ; and thus is her anxiety doubled. The 

 disobedience of her children, however, too 

 often costs them dear. A tempting bait, set 

 on a circular painted board, by an artful, 

 hatchet faced villain lurking under a hedge, 



