THE WATER-OUZEL.

THE Bird

Is here, the solitary bird that makes

The rock his sole companion. Leafy vale,
Green bower, and hedge-row fair, and garden rich
With bud and bloom, delight him not ;-he bends
No spray, nor roams the wilderness of boughs,
Where love and song detain a million wings,
Through all the Summer morn-the Summer eve ;—
He has no fellowship with waving woods,-
He joins not in their merry minstrelsy,-

But flits from ledge to ledge, and through the day
Sings to the highland waterfall—that speaks

To him in strains he loves and lists

For ever.

N. T. CARRINGTON.

The Water-Ouzel, or Dipper, Cinclus aquaticus, frequents the sides of rocky mountain-streams; it commences its song as early as January and February; "which," says Mr. Polwhele, "has a great resemblance to the sound of water gurgling among pebbles,"

The cheerful bird that loves the stream,

And the stream's voice, and answers, in like strains
Murmuring deliciously.

In Cumberland this retired bird is known by the name of the Bessy Ducker.

THE WAY-FARING TREE.

WAY-FARING Tree! what ancient claim
Hast thou to that right pleasant name?
Was it that some faint pilgrim came
Unhopedly to thee,

In the brown desert's weary way,
'Mid toil and thirst's consuming sway,
And there, as 'neath thy shade he lay,
Bless'd the Way-faring Tree?

Or is it that thou lov'st to show
Thy coronals of fragrant snow,
Like life's spontaneous joys that flow
In paths by thousands beat?
Whate'er it be, I love it well;
A name, methinks, that surely fell
From poet, in some evening dell,

Wandering with fancies sweet.

A name given in those olden days,
When, 'mid the wild-wood's vernal sprays,
The merle and mavis pour'd their lays
In the lone listener's ear,

Like songs of an enchanted land,
Sung sweetly to some fairy band,

Listening with doff'd helms in each hand
In some green hollow near.

W. HOWITT.

The Guelder-Rose or Way-faring Tree, Viburnum Lantana, delights in a limestone soil. In June it bears cymes of white flowers, and in autumn its leaves assume a deep red colour. The origin of one of its trivial names, is pleasingly though fancifully accounted for, by our Poet in the above lines.

TO A LEAFLESS HAWTHORN.

HAIL rustic tree! for, though November's wind
Has thrown thy verdant mantle to the ground,
Yet Nature, to thy vocal inmates kind,

With berries red, thy matron-boughs has crown'd.
Thee do I envy: for bright April showers

Will bid again thy fresh-green leaves expand;
And May, light-floating in a cloud of flowers,

Will cause thee to re-bloom with magic hand:

But on my Spring, when genial dewdrops fell,
Soon did Life's north-wind curdle them with frost,
And, when my Summer-blossom oped its bell,
In blight and mildew was its beauty lost!
Yet, though to me no Sunshine here is given,
A day of brightness may be mine in Heaven.

R. MILLHOUSE.

The Hawthorn, Crataegus oxyacantha, is exceeded by few trees in beauty, when in bloom,-the season of which is usually May; and on this account the name of May or May-blossom is sometimes given to its flowers. It has long been a favourite with pastoral and rustic poets: Milton has not even forgotten to introduce it in his L' Allegro :

Every shepherd tells his tale

Under the hawthorn in the dale.

When old, the trunk of this tree is often covered with moss and lichen, a circumstance pleasingly noticed by Burns:

The hawthorn I will pu', wi' its locks o' siller grey,

Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o' day.

But the songster's nest within the bush, I winna tak' away,
And a' to be a posie for my ain dear May.

The birds that chiefly feed upon the fruit of the Hawthorn are the thrush, blackbird, fieldfare, and redwing:-but it is said that the smaller birds rarely touch them. Our poet Cowper seems to entertain this opinion, in the following passage:

And berry-bearing thorns

That feed the thrush, (whatever some suppose,)
Afford the smaller minstrels no supply.

ON A SPRIG OF HEATH.

FLOWER of the waste! the heath-fowl shuns
For thee the brake and tangled wood;

To thy protecting shade she runs,
Thy tender buds supply her food;
Her young forsake her downy plumes,
To rest upon thy opening blooms.

Flower of the desert, though thou art!
The deer that range the mountain free,
The graceful doe, the stately hart,

Their food and shelter seek from thee;

The bee thy earliest blossom greets,
And draws from thee her choicest sweets.

Gem of the heath! whose modest bloom
Sheds beauty o'er the lonely moor;
Though thou dispense no rich perfume,
Nor yet with splendid tints allure;
Both valour's crest and beauty's bower,
Oft hast thou deck'd, a favourite flower.
Flower of the wild! whose purple glow
Adorns the dusky mountain's side,
Not the gay hues of Iris' bow,

Nor garden's artful, varied pride,
With all its wealth of sweets could cheer,
Like thee, the hardy mountaineer.

Flower of his heart! the fragrance mild,
Of peace and freedom seems to breathe;

To pluck thy blossoms in the wild,

And deck his bonnet with the wreath,
Where dwelt of old his rustic sires,
Is all his simple wish requires.

Flower of his dear-lov'd, native land!
Alas! when distant, far more dear!
When he, from some cold foreign strand,

Looks homeward through the blinding tear,

How must his aching heart deplore,

That home and thee he sees no more!

MRS. GRANT.

The Heath tribe is said to be the largest genus of plants :-all, except about a dozen, are from the Cape of Good Hope. It is a remarkable fact, that none have been found wild in America; and although in Autumn our mountainsides and moors are completely empurpled with heath-flowers, there are only five species natives of Britain. The Common-Heath or Ling, Calluna vulgaris, is used for a variety of economical purposes, but chiefly for making brooms. This hardy mountaineer is the badge of the clan Macdonell ;-the cross-leaved Heath, Erica tetralix, of the Macdonalds;-and the fine-leaved Heath, Erica cinerea, of the Macallisters. Many other floral badges, assumed by the different Highland clans, as, the Yew, Holly, Pine, Cranberry, &c., are enumerated by Prof. Hooker, in his valuable British Flora:-such associations cannot fail to

give additional interest to the history of each particular plant. These emblems were generally chosen from evergreens, that they might be permanent, and not affected by change of season. This was the practice of all, except the Stuarts, who wore the Oak, which, from its having been a deciduous leaf, many regarded as ominous of the decay of that family and name. Besides these marks of distinction, it may be interesting to add, that the particular disposition of the various colours of the tartan, worn by the Highlanders, indicated to what clan or district they respectively belonged. This national garb of the Scotch was proscribed by government in 1747.

THE SQUIRREL-HUNT.

THEN, as a nimble Squirrel from the wood,
Ranging the hedges for his filbert-food,
Sits partly on a bough his browne nuts cracking,
And from the shell the sweet white kernell taking,
Till (with their crookes and bags) a sort of boyes,
(To share with him) come with so great a noyse,
That he is forc'd to leave a nut nigh broke,
And for his life leape to a neighbour oake;
Thence to a beeche, thence to a row of ashes;
Whilst through the quagmires, and red water plashes,
The boyes runne dabling through thicke and thin,
One tears his hose, another breakes his shin:
This, torn and tatter'd, hath with much adoe
Got by the bryers; and that hath lost his shoe ;
This drops his hand; that headlong falls for haste:
Another cryes behinde for being last :
With stickes and stones, and many a sounding hollow,
The little foole, with no small sport, they follow,
Whilst he, from tree to tree, from spray to spray,
Gets to the wood, and hides him in his dray.

WILLIAM BROWNE.

No animal is more admired for elegance of form, or for activity and sprightliness, than the common Squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris. During the day it is constantly awake and alert, and is with difficulty taken alive. In its native woods it may be often observed moving about with admirable agility among the branches of the trees, sometimes elevating its light and spreading tail, and sometimes carrying it stretched out at full length. This nimble animal lives entirely on vegetable food, and is particularly fond of nuts and acorns. When feeding it sits erect, and uses its fore-feet like hands.