To thee a song of praise is due,

For thou art faithful, fond, and true.
Affection warm and firm as thine,
Which knows no varying nor decline,
The false and fleeting love might shame,
Of those who bear a nobler name;
And lordly man might learn from thee,
A lesson of fidelity.

Oh! fair befall thee, gay fauvette,
With trilling song and cap of jet !

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The Golden-crested Wren.

Motacilla Regulus.-LINN.

THE golden-crested wren is the smallest of all the British birds, and has sometimes been called the English humming bird. When stripped of its feathers, its body is about an inch long: with its feathers, it is a little more than three inches in length, and weighs only about seventy-six grains. It is so small that it can pass through the meshes of the nets, commonly used for catching small birds, and easily escapes from all cages. A leaf is sufficient to conceal it from the most piercing sight; which is probably the reason why they are so rarely seen in summer, when, no

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doubt, there are abundance in the tall trees of

our woods. Screened from observation by the thick foliage, we perceive them not; but as soon as the leaves fall, they are found in tolerable numbers, and are seen flying about, in small troops of from ten to twelve, in company with tit-mice and other little birds. This bird remains with us all the winter, and is a constant resident, even so far north as the Orkney Islands. It seems able to bear great extremes of temperature, as it is found all over Europe, and has also been met with in Asia and America. It feeds chiefly on small insects, in search of which it glides about with great swiftness, climbing rapidly from branch to branch, and holding itself with perfect ease in every position. Often you may see it, head downwards, suspended by its feet from the bough of a tree. It frequents oaks, elms, pines, firs, and willows. Its nest is principally composed of moss, and lined with the softest down; and it is curiously suspended from the branch of a tree, by means of a sort of cordage, formed of the same materials as the nest. There it hangs, a soft cradle for its young ones, rocked by the wind as it passes through the branches. In this nest there are six or eight little eggs, not larger than a pea. While the lady-wren sits on them, her mate, as is the case with so many other

birds, kindly sits by her side, and sings her his When she is obliged to quit

sweetest songs.

the nest in search of food, he takes her place, and keeps the eggs warm till her return.

THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN.

Gem-like bird, with thy golden crest,
Like lovely visions rarely seen,
Seldom we find thy place of rest,

Shrouded beneath the foliage green.
'Mid the dark groves of fir and pine,
Where chiefly thou lovest to dwell,
Sweet is that fairy note o f thine,
As the chime of a silver bell;
That gently tells in a season of flowers,
Of the rapid flight of the pleasant hours;
And a single leaf of the forest tree,
Will serve as a sheltering screen for thee;
Concealing thee safely from every eye,
Until danger and fear have pass'd thee by.

Small as thou art, thou gem-like bird,

Yet thou hast made thy nest on high;
And there thy warbling voice is heard,
Singing thy children's lullaby.
Lovely bird, with thy golden crown,

A kind and tender nurse art thou,

Making thy nest of moss and down,

And hanging it on the bending bough.

There, rocked by the wave of the Zephyr's wings,
Amid the green branches it lightly swings;
And a few clustering leaves of the forest-tree,
Will serve to shelter thy cradle and thee;
Concealing thee safely from every eye,
Until danger and fear have pass'd thee by.

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Willow-Wren.

Motacilla Trochilus.

THIS is a very delicately formed, and beautiful little bird, not so small as the golden-crested wren, but still of fairy dimensions. Its movements are graceful and rapid; and it is in search of its insect prey, that, like the golden-crested wren, it exhibits the greatest agility. It frequents hedges and shrubberies. Should you have the good fortune to possess a retired garden, surrounded by fields and woods, you have a still better chance of seeing these fairy birds in your domains; and may amuse yourselves, as we have often done, with watching them as they glide swiftly about from tree to tree, and from flower to flower. A very pretty sight it is, to see them running rapidly up the trunks of the trees, and the stems of the smaller plants, in search of