night. It was placed in the open air in the morning, and removed at night into the house. "It often happened that my little charge had enjoyed two or three hours disporting before I was prepared to walk. I was, however, recognized and greeted as soon as I appeared; and whether I pursued the course of the roads, or rambled into the fields, they generally encircled me in their flight, sometimes resting upon me, or accepting a fly from my fingers. These amusive proceedings continued four or five weeks; but after that period, according to my wish, our intercourse diminished daily. They associated more and more with their congeners, who were collecting together as is usual at this period of the year, and were absent more frequently and for longer intervals; but, whenever or wherever they again appeared, they seldom failed to come to me when I summoned them by my call. Having disappeared for two or three days, I considered that our connexion was altogether dissolved; but as I was walking to an adjoining village, one of the birds gave me his wonted salutation in passing, and, on my invitation, perched on one of my fingers. In this position I conveyed it to the village green, and there, in the presence of several persons, cast it into the air, with some exclamation expressive of my wish for its welfare. "I was often solicited to continue my interest ing charge throughout the winter, but I had accomplished my object. I had promoted the enjoyment of existence. That was sufficient. By attempting more, and thwarting the demands of instinct, I should probably have terminated that happiness which had been the object of my care and interest." Should the foregoing anecdote chance to be read by any one who has thoughtlessly been in the habit of destroying these useful and interesting birds, it may, I trust, induce him to forego a practice, I have never witnessed without regret. There appears to be no portion of the known world in which they are not to be found, in certain seasons of the year, and where their indefatigable exertions keep down too great a preponderance of insects. They build in places where we should little expect to find their nest. While fishing this year in the neighbourhood of Dover, I discovered that a pair of swallows had built under an arch-way of a paper mill, through which the water rushed with great force. The space between the water and the nest could not have been more than two feet, and yet the birds fearlessly conveyed food to their young, and again came forth to seek for more, at moments when the foaming stream appeared to fill up nearly the whole of the archway. It is, we presume, generally known, that the swallow tribe, which visit us in the Spring and Summer, winter in Egypt and on the northern shores of Africa; but the fact may be new to some of our readers, that the four* species of swallows we possess, are found among many others, which, though apparently equally powerful of wing, and capable of flight, do not appear to leave their native country. In the swallow tribe, the double purpose seems fulfilled, of devouring the numerous colonies of insects that breed with us in the hotter months of the year, and also of securing a proper climate and country for their own nidification; but in the case of other birds of passage, such as the Goatsucker (Caprimulgus) and the Cuckoo, though they feed also on insects, yet their numbers are so confined, as to lead us to presume that the purpose of their coming to our shores, must be altogether confined to their own preservation and increase. It is also curious, that though Bees are so numerous in England, through care and domestication, yet that the bird (the Merops apiaster) whose natural prey they are, is so seldom found here; whereas, it seems a general law of nature, that "where the carcass is, there the eagles are gathered together;" and that animals never fail to frequent those places where is the food convenient for them. *The Swift, the Swallow, the Martin, the Sand-Martin. A fifth species," the Austrian Praticole," has been shot in England. There's not a leaf within the bower; But bears the impress, Lord, of Thee. MRS. OPIE. WE are furnished with abundant proofs of a superintending Providence, and we may perceive a wise arrangement in everything connected with the animal as well as the vegetable creation. Everything has been made for some good purpose; and it is man alone who interferes with the benevolent order and design of the Creator. A friend of mine preserved his game with more than usual strictness. His keepers had orders to destroy every stoat, weazle, hawk, owl, magpie, or jay, on his estate; and this was done to such a degree, that not one of these supposed marauders were to be met with in his preserves. The consequence was, that rats and mice infested his property to an enormous extent. The former burrowed in his fields and hedge-rows like rabbits, destroying the corn of his tenants, and feasting not only on the eggs of his partridges and pheasants, but also on the young birds when they were hatched. During the winter they committed serious depredations in the barns and stack-yards; and although every means has been resorted to in order to destroy them, they still continue to be a great annoyance. A similar circumstance took place in the preserves at Kew, where the vermin have been destroyed. The rats have become so numerous in the grounds of that place, that I have seen regular warrens of them. It is, I think, evident that had not the assigned enemies of these vermin been destroyed, they would not have increased to the extent they have done. In places where Swallows have been wantonly driven away by shooting at them, much injury has been occasioned to hop-plants and fruit trees, by too great an increase of insects. Farmers are now beginning to discover this, and also to be aware that Rooks, so far from being injurious to them, are among their best friends. They destroy the wireworm in great quantities, as well as the grubs of cockchafers, and those of the long-legged gnat (Tibula oleracea) and other larvæ, which are very injurious to the roots of corn. A gentleman, who farms to a considerable extent, lately informed me, that in those parts of his farm which were most frequented by pheasants, the wire-worm was not to be found, while in other places his corn was nearly destroyed by that grub. The crops of Pheasants are sometimes found completely filled |