temperament, that singing is the one great 

 business of their happy lives ! No heavy cares 

 sit on their brow. 



The black-cap arrives amongst us, very 

 frequently, before the nightingale. This year 

 he was en avance some ten days. Like the 

 latter, he comes to spy out the land, before 

 the lady-birds set foot on our shores. The 

 arrival of the latter may be noted about the 

 20th to the 24th of April. No time has 

 been lost by their liege lords during the 

 inter -regnum caused by their absence. Their 

 song has been duly chanted from the very 

 moment of their coming over ; and conve- 

 nient localities have been warily chosen for 

 the pitching and furnishing of the family 

 tent. 



We may here remark that the black- cap 

 is, of all birds, the most prudent and cau- 

 tious in its selection of a site for rearing its 

 young. Apparently aware of the innate pro- 

 pensity of men and boys to rob and plunder 

 the feathered tribe of their eggs and children, 

 they build their nests in the most artfully - 

 concealed places ; and they are as cunning 

 in their movements to and fro, during the 

 period of incubation, as ever was fox when 

 fleeing from his pursuers. This is evidenced 

 by the fact of very few of their nests being 

 obtainable by purchase, when those of other 

 birds are plentiful enough. They go to nest 

 almost immediately after their arrival, and 

 rear one brood. Sometimes, but rarely, they 

 have a second family. This depends on the 

 fineness of the season. 



Talking of nests, reminds us of the cruel 

 acts of spoliation which we now regularly 

 witness, week by week, in our rambles. For 

 the last three weeks, we have seen most 

 painfully verified the truth of Virgil's 

 remark, — "Sic vos non vohis nidijicatis, avesl" 

 The remnants of eggs, the rude destruction 

 of beautifully-formed nests, the pitiful out- 

 cries of young, unfledged nestlings, and the 

 bewailments of their bereaved parents ; 

 these sights we have seen, and these sights 

 we continue to see, ad nauseam. 



There assuredly must be still something 

 radically wrong in the early education of our 

 youth. The organ of " destructiveness " 

 cannot surely be so egregiously large in the 

 whole genus juvenis, that no means can be 

 taken to reduce it. Gigantic are the strides 

 we have made, since the days of Virgil, in 

 every one of the known arts. The art of 

 curing the innate propensity in boys to rob 

 orchards and birds' nests, is, it would seem, 

 malheureusement ! the one solitary human 

 art in which no progress has been, or ever 

 can be made ! We should have imagined 

 that Dr. Birch might have effected more 

 good than he appears to have done. We 

 fear he is grown indolent as he is callous. 



AUTUMN WILD FLOWEKS. 



That a change has taken place in 

 the relations of the seasons to each other, is 

 an undoubted fact. The swallow does not 

 now take his departure from us so soon as he 

 formerly did, and deep into autumn many of 

 our familiar wild flowers will be found to 

 blow. We look for spring in March, and 

 find it snow and frost in April : and while 

 autumn should put on its drab- colored hue 

 in August, we find the summer leaves not 

 disturbed until well into November. The 

 snow is not so deep nor so early on the 

 ground as it was wont to be ; we never have 

 the recreation of taking a temporary burial 

 in six feet of flake. We repeat the fact of 

 the seasons having changed their relative 

 positions, and having materially altered in 

 their severity.* 



In the month of August, and with the 

 certainty that they will be in bloom through- 

 out the month, we see many flowers which 

 ought to be in seed, and well ripened. Nor 

 is this fact incidental to this peculiar season; 

 we have noticed it for long, both with regard 

 to wild and garden flowers. Take as an 

 instance most of the plants of that interesting 

 order, called by botanists the Umhelliferm ; 

 they are still found in flower, although set 

 down as blossoming in April, May, and June, 

 and the same may be said of several other 

 species, the periods of flowering of which 

 have got most unaccountably confused. These 

 umbelliferous plants are by no means an 

 inviting study for the young botanist. The 

 distinctions between the genera depend up- 

 on parts so very minute, that without the 

 aid of a powerful glass, and the closest in- 

 spection, it is almost impossible to trace 

 them. The specific distinctions are equally 

 difficult, depending as much upon the shape 

 of the seed vessels, as the flowers and the 

 leaves, and hence the tribe would require to 

 be studied at different periods- of a season 

 to arrive at an accurate knowledge of indi- 

 vidual peculiarities. The umbelliferous 

 plants will be well understood from their well- 

 known species, the common carrot, parsley, 

 celery, and deadly hemlock. This latter 

 plant can be easily distinguished by its stem 

 being spotted, and the offensive fetid smell 

 which it emits. Notwithstanding the almost 

 superstitious dread with which it is regarded, 

 in consequence of its poisonous nature, the 

 hemlock yields an extract which has been 

 much used in the cure of scrofulous and 

 cancerous diseases. 



A plant which is very common in road- 

 side ditches, called figwort, or by botanists 



* We have slightly abridged this article, 

 which we have taken from a Liverpool Paper, 

 1849. There is a perpetual freshness about it 

 that charms us.— -Ed. K. J. 



