CHILDREN OF THE AIR. 19 
" From the woods 
Came voices of the well-contented doves. 
The lark could scarce get out his note for joy, 
But shook his song together as he neared 
His happy home, the ground. To left and right 
The cuckoo told his name to all the hills ; 
The mellow ousel fluted in the elm ; 
The redcap whistled ; and the nightingale 
Sang loud, as though he were the bird of day. '" 
It is not difficult to understand why between Man and the Birds 
so close a fellowship should exist. We are drawn towards most of 
them by their comparative helplessness ; but more, ])erhaps, by the 
"thk joyous bieds, soroudeu in chekrful sdade." 
singular conditions of their existence. They are the children of the 
air, and enjoy the possession of an attribute which we covet, — the 
capacity of flight. We see them rising to heaven's gate on out- 
stretched wings, and hovering far away among the blue until the 
eye can scarce distinguish each floating speck ; and we are filled with 
a sense of envy. How lightly and gracefully they pass from tree to 
tree, or skiin the surface of the waters in search of their insect prey ; 
