238 THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 
No door the tenement requires, 
And seldom needs a laboured roof ; 
Yet is it to the fiercest sun 
Impervious, and storm proof. 
So warm, so beautiful withal. 
In perfect fitness for its aim. 
That to the kind by special grace 
Their instinct surely came. 
And when for their abodes they seek 
An opportune recess. 
The hermit has no finer eye 
For shadowy quietness. 
These find, 'mid ivied abbey walls, 
A canopy in some still nook ; 
Others are pent-housed by a brae 
That overhangs a brook. 
There, to the brooding bird, her mate 
Warbles by fits his low clear song ; 
And by the busy streamlet both 
Are sung to all day long. 
