MATERNAL LOVE. 
189 
Thine ardent brow ; and just below, a brook 
Fresh from the ever-living spring, presents 
Its purest crystal to thy lip. 
The little birds use the delicate moss in 
the formation of their nests. Is this in¬ 
stinct '? Yea, truly the iustinct of maternal 
care and maternal tenderness, implanted by 
nature in the light winged inhabitants of the 
air. Clare shall tell us of the thrush pre¬ 
paring her nest. 
Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush, 
That overhangs a molehill large and round, 
1 heard, from morn to morn, a merry thrush 
Sing hymns to sunrise, and I drank the sound 
With joy; and, often an intruding guest, 
I watched her secret toils from day to day — 
How true she warped the moss, to form a nest, 
And modelled it within with wood and clay; 
And by and by, like heath-bells gilt with dew, 
There lay her shining eggs, as bright as flowers. 
Ink-spotted over shells of greeny blue ; 
And then I witnessed, in the sunny hours, 
A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly, 
Glad as that sunshine, and the laughing sky. 
The squirrel also uses it in the construction 
of its circular abode.. 
The Laplanders, we are told, protect 
themselves from the rigours of winter by 
covering their subterraneous dwellings with 
moss; their numerous herds of rein-deer 
