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Nature Notes: 
THE SELBORNE SOCIETT'S MAGAZINE. 
No. 224. yVUGUST, 1908. Vol. XIX. 
THE THRUSH’S FUNERAL. 
Here in Old Ranelagh I saw to-day 
A simple child stop suddenly from play, 
With tears upon her cheek ; — “ Poor thrush,” she cried, 
“ To think in such full summer you have died ! ” 
Then did she search with care each flowery bed 
To seek rich covering for the songster dead, 
— -Here, soft rose petals, there, a poppy leaf. 
And tenderly she laboured in her grief 
To weave of laurel green a casket meet 
For one so silent now whose song was sweet. 
Then where a fountain seemed in pain to flow 
I watched her bear the little body, slow. 
And gazing round to see that none were near. 
There on the fountain’s rim she laid the bier. 
And left ’neath poppy flowers and rose-leaf heap 
The silent singer to his balmy sleep. 
Oft looking back to gaze upon the shroud. 
With tearful eyes she vanished in the crowd. 
But one child-heart in all the world of play 
Had touched the soul of Ranelagh that day, 
And the dead thrush upon a fountain stone 
Told of a love which keeps creation one. 
H. L). Rawnsley. 
