"Gentle bird! we find thee here

When Nature wears her summer vest,
Thou com'st to weave thy simple nest;
And when the chilling winter lowers,
Again thou seek'st the genial bowers
Of Memphis, or the shores of Nile,
Where sunny hours of verdure smile."

Marvellous, indeed, is the instinct which, after a voyage of thousands of miles have been performed, and new lands have been visited, prompts the swallow to return to the very eaves that have been left; yet such is unquestionably the fact. The following is one instance, taken from a multitude. A sparrow attempted to rob a house-marten of its nest, where lay its young and unfledged brood, and its efforts were watched from time to time by four brothers, who resolved to defend the bird that had found a shelter under their mother's roof. But, alas the blow-guns they employed loosened the foundations of the mud-walled dwelling — down it came, and its four little inmates lay on the ground. The mother of the children, pitying the condition of the little birds, replaced them in the nest, and set it in the open window of an empty chamber. The fright of the parentbirds was soon gone, and hither they came to feed their young with their accustomed diligence, and to express in all the ways they could adopt their satisfaction and

confidence. In due time the young birds were fledged, and from that very window they began to fly. At the season of migration, of course, they were gone; but did they lose all remembrance of the spot from whence they first tried their little wings? Oh no! The very next spring, came four martens, flying familiarly into the chamber, passing from wall to wall, and giving utterance to the joy they felt-the identical brood of the preceding year.

The reference of the inspired Psalmist to the swallow, led to the penning of the following sweet verses by the late Right Hon. Sir R. Grant. May the feelings they express be those of every reader!

THE GOOSE.

THE common goose, from which our breed is descended, must have been domesticated for many centuries. It was formerly bred in the then extensive and impenetrable swamps and fens spreading over the eastern The toil and skill of man have wrought a great change on their surface, the morass becoming a fruitful field, a garden rich in flowers and in fruit; but this part of the feathered tribes, once wandering at large, is now apparent in a highly improved and domestic state.

coasts.

of

How much are we indebted to this bird, so proverbial for its stupidity! It gives us our quills, with some of which this, and multitudes of other books, were written. They are supposed to have been in use amongst us between four and five hundred years; and many those employed in England came from Ireland, Hamburgh, and Hudson's Bay. An immense quantity of quills is also imported from Russia and Poland, where vast flocks of geese are fed for the sake of their quills alone: the quantity exported from St. Petersburg varies

from six millions to twenty-seven millions. Some idea of the number of geese required to afford the supply may be formed, by considering that each wing yields about five good quills; and that, properly managed, a goose may produce twenty quills during the year.

The smaller feathers and down of these birds contribute largely to the nightly repose of multitudes. The barbarous practice has long prevailed of plucking the living bird, but it is going out of use: they are now taken from the bird as soon as it is killed, and while warm, lest the quills should lose their elasticity. Geese yield also a rich food, with which, at certain seasons, the London markets are plentifully supplied.