52 
INTRODUCTION. 
been for a season unheard, coming to the ear as 
the greeting of an old acquaintance, and the notes 
of love, warbled in the simplest strains, or poured 
forth in deep and full-toned cadence. 
While thus the imprison'd leaves and waking flowers 
Burst from their tombs, the birds that lurk’d unseen 
Amid the hybernal shade, in busy tribes 
Pour their forgotten multitudes, and catch 
New life, new rapture, from the smile of spring. 
The oak’s dark canopy, the moss-grown thorns, 
Flutter with hurried pinions, and resound 
With notes that suit a forest. 
These remarks may be considered referable 
more particularly to the incessores of Britain or 
of Europe. Were we to extend our observations 
to the inhabitants of other continents, we should 
enter a field much more varied in the manner in 
which the allotted offices were performed, and we 
should find them no less suitably adapted to the 
very different circumstances of each. They would 
be, however, mostly inapplicable here, and we 
shall proceed to the consideration of the British 
families, endeavouring, as we go along, to point 
out whatever may be useful or interesting in the 
economy of each. 
