Lo! the PLACE!- by a river whose stream runs

along

In a warble as soft as the Nightingale's song ;

In whose deeps of clear crystal the maculate trout
Is seen swiftly darting or sporting about ;-

The Arborea, or WOOD-LARK, is less than the sky-lark: the plumage is more pale and inclined to rufous, yet varied like that bird the head is surrounded with a white ring or fillet; legs flesh colour. Found in this country, thronghout Europe, and, it is said, in Siberia and Kamtschatka. Nest on the ground in tufts of grass, like the sky-lark: eggs four or five, dusky brown blotched with dusky, with smaller reddish spots. It sings as it flies: but it also perches on trees, when it likewise sings: its note has been compared to the blackbird's and the nightingale's it is however a sweet and varied song. It some times soars to a great height in the air, flying in circles, and continues so to do for a long time. It is not gregarious like the arvensis, being rarely seen in greater number than six or seven together.

The Pratensis, or TIT-LARK, inhabits Europe in low grounds, and well known in this country: it is five and a half inches long: has a fine note, and sings sitting on trees or on the ground. The bill is black body above dusky brown, beneath, white: breast ochre yellow with oblong black spots: legs yellowish: nest on the ground,

The Magna, MEADOW-LARK, or Old Field-lark, of WILSON, is ten inches and a half long, extent sixteen and a half: throat, belly, breast, a rich yellow; inside lining and edge of the wing the same colour; back beautifully variegated with black, bright bay, and pale ochre; legs and feet pale flesh-colour and very large. Nest, in or beneath a thick tuft of grass, composed of dry grass and fine beut, and wound all round leaving

Here the hill's gentle slope to the river descends,

Which, in sinuous course, through a wilderness

wends;

There, amid lofty rocks, hung with ivy and yew, Doth echo, the wood-nymph her pleasure pursue; And the comb, and the glen, and the shadowy vale, Invite the fond lover to tell his soft tale.

The woods and thick copses, as mansions of rest, Many warblers oft choose for their home and their

nest;

an arched entrance level with the ground. Feeds on insects and grass seeds; flesh good, little inferior to the quail. Inhabits North America from Canada to New Orleans.-Though this well known species cannot boast of the powers of sóng which distinguish the sky-lark of Europe, yet in richness of plumage as well as in sweetness of voice, as far as its few notes extend, it is eminently superior. It differs however from the tribe in wanting the long straight hind claw. WILSON.

The Obscura, ROCK-LARK, Dusky-Lark, or Sea-Lark, inhabits rocky places in England, and most probably other parts of Europe; it is about seven inches long; solitary and sings little; note like the chirp of a grasshopper.-The Minor, FIELD-LARK, Lesser Field-lark, Short-heeled Field-lark, or Meadow-lark, visits this country in the spring; sometimes mistaken for the Titlark. The Nemorosa vel cristata, CRESTED-LARK, or LesserCrested-lark, is said to inhabit Europe, and like the Bulfinch, to learn with ease to repeat tunes played or sung to it. Ornithologists are not however, agreed about the identity or even existence of this bird. The Trivialis, PIPIT-LARK, or Pippit, has the upper parts of the body a rusty olivaceous-brown streaked with dusky, beneath, ferruginous. The Rubra, REDLARK, or Lark from Pennsylvania, is rather larger than the Skylark, and a rare species in this country.

A place where content in a cottage might dwell;—
A place that a hermit might choose for his cell;-
Where, afar from all strife and all tumult and pride,
The nymph Tranquil Pleasure delights to reside;—
Where, in meadow or grove or the woodlands among,
The BIRDS may be heard in melodious song.

The TIME, when the Spring, in his splendid array,
Commanded cold Winter to hasten away;-
When the woods and the groves, decked in garments

of green,

With laughing delight and with pleasure were seen. The cowslip with fragrance the meadow perfum'd, And the primrose the dark bank with yellow illum'd; The cuckoo flower peep'd from the pasture's soft bed, And the yellow ranunculus lifted her head.

The violet drooping seemed ready to die;

To part with such sweetness, ah! who will not sigh ? The THRUSH's, the BLACKBIRD's, and NIGHTIN

GALE'S, song

Were heard now and then the dark copses among;
Whilst a crowd of soft melodists, hid in the grove,
Seem'd anxious their musical powers to prove:
In a hedge sang the BLACK-CAP, what time in the yew,
The WOOD-PIGEON cried "Two, two, Taffy, take two."
Other PIGEONS (3) e'er active, and oft on the wing,
Proclaim'd, by their cooing, the presence of spring.

(3). ORDER, PASSERES, (Linn.) PIGEON, DOVE, &c. The genus Columba, (Linn.) to which the COMMON PIGEON, or Columba Domestica belongs, is a very extensive one,

* Ranunculus acris-BUTTERCUP or GOLDCUP.

The WINTER BIRDS all were quite ready for flight, But most of them tarried to see the gay sight.

consisting of more than one hundred and thirty species, the characteristics of which are, a straight bill, descending towards the tip; nostrils oblong, half covered with a soft, tumid membrane. The cooing of this tribe of birds is well known, and by which it appears to be peculiarly distinguished from every other genus. The young are also fed with grain made soft in the crop and ejected into their mouths from the beaks of the parent birds. On this account, as well as some other peculiarities, they are arranged by Dr. LATHAM as a separate order, consisting of one genus only; Mr. VIGORS has arranged it among the RASORS. The following are the chief:

The Domestica, DOMESTIC or Common Pigeon, is too well known to need description. It inhabits and is domesticated in almost every part of Europe and Asia. The varieties are very numerous: the Rough-footed, the Tumbler, the Horseman, the Carrier, and the Fan-tail, are among the chief. It is about fourteen inches long, and exceedingly variable in its colours; lays from nine to eleven times a year; eggs two, white; time of incubation from fifteen to eighteen days; feeds on grain; flesh, it is scarcely necessary to say, generally esteemed. See the conclusion of this note; and also the articles STOCK-DOVE and ROCK-DOVE.

Pigeon-Houses are of various kinds. Where the numbers kept are not large they are usually of wood of a triangular shape, and fixed against a wall out of the reach of vermin and other annoyance; but where a large number is kept,

"Some tower rotund

Shall to the pigeons and their callow young

Safe roost afford."

MASON'S English Garden, book iv.

The Enas, STOCK-PIGEON, or Stock-dove, is bluish, neck glossy

The morning walk'd forth in fair beauty's bright

dress;

The sun rose delighted all things to caress;

green; double band on the wings, and tip of the tail blackish; throat and breast claret colour; claws black; fourteen inches long; inhabits old turrets and rocky banks of Europe and Siberia; found also in this country; breeds sometimes in old rab. bit burrows, sometimes on trees; migrates southerly in winter; some however remain in England the whole of the year.

This has been supposed by some naturalists to be the pigeon whence all our domestic pigeons are derived. The Rev. Mr. JENYNS, however, in his Ornithology of Cambridgeshire, lately published in the Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, says, as far as he has observed, that "the Stock-dove never coos, but utters only a hollow rumbling note during the breeding season, which may be heard at a considerable distance. MONTAGUE," he continues, "has evidently confounded this species with the ROCK-DOVE, (Columba livia TEMM.) which is supposed to be the origin of our dove-house pigeons, and is found in a wild state upon some of the steep shores and cliffs of Great Britain, but is not a native of Cambridgeshire." He adds, "the Stock-dove and Ring-dove are indiscriminately called wood-pigeons by the country people."

From this we gather what great uncertainty and confusion still prevails on one of the commonest subjects of ornithology; and the necessity there is for a more correct record of facts concerning it. I may just add, I never heard of any Woodpigeons in Somersetshire that do not coo. With great deference to the Rev. Mr. JENYNS, I suspect that many persons would be disposed to call the "hollow rumbling notes" of this bird, cooing, which I believe I heard in Forest-hill wood, in May 1827. The Poets generally concur with the commonly received opinion, that the Stock-dove coos; and although, as we have seen in the Introduction, their statements are not to be implicitly relied