OFSELBORNE. 69 
TFien be the time to fteal adown the vale. 
And liften to the vagrant = cuckoo's tale; 
To hear the clamorous curlew call his mate,, 
Or the foft quail his tender pain relate ; 
To fee the fvvallow fweep the dark'ning plain 
Belated, to fupport her infant train ; 
To mark the fwift in rapid giddy ring 
Dalh round the fteeple, unfubdu'd of wing : 
Amufive birds ! — fay where your hid retreat 
When the froll rages and the tempefts beat;. 
Whence your return, by fuch nice inftind led. 
When fpring, foft feafon, lifts her bloomy head ? 
Such baffled fearches mock man's prying pride. 
The GOD of NATURE is your fecret guide ! 
While deep'ning fhades obfcure the face of day 
To yonder bench leaf-fhelter'd let us ftray, 
'Till blended objects fail the fwimming fight. 
And all the fading landfcape finks in night 
To hear the drowfy dor come brufhing by 
With buzzing wing, or the fhrill? cricket cry; 
To fee the feeding bat glance through the wood ; 
To catch the diftant falling of the flood ; 
While o'er the cliff th' awaken'd churn-owl hung 
Through the flill gloom protradls his chattering fong; 
While high in air, and pois'd upon his wings, 
Unfeen, the foft enamour'd ^ woodlark fings : 
« Vagrant cuckoo; fo cnlled becaufe, being tied down by no incubation or attend- 
ance about the nutrition of it's young, it wanders without control. 
^ Charadrius oedicncmus. S Gryllus campejlris. 
^ In hot fununer nights woodlarks foar to a prodigious height and hang linging in 
the air. 
Thefe, 
