INTRODUCTION. 
9 
Or roughening waste, their humble texture weave : 
But most in woodland solitudes delight, 
In unfrequented glooms, or shaggy banks. 
Steep, and divided by a babbling brook. 
Whose murmurs sooth them all the livelong day. 
When by kind duty fix'd. Among the roots 
Of hazel, pendant o'er the plaintive stream, 
They frame the first foundation of their domes ; 
Dry sprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid. 
And bound with clay together. Now, *tis nought 
But restless hurry thro' the busy air, 
Beat by unnumber'd wings. The swallow sweeps 
The slimy pool, to build his hanging house 
Intent. And often, from the careless back 
Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills 
Pluck hair and wool ; and oft, when unobserved. 
Steal from the barn a straw; till soft and warm, 
Clean, and complete, their habitation grows.^' 
And, again, where he reprobates the inhu- 
manity of confining these lovely creatures 
in cages : — 
Be not the muse asham'd, here to bemoan 
Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant Man 
