man, is usually thirty days' journey) in forty-eight hours. To measure their speed with some degree of exactness, a gentleman some years ago, on a trifling wager, sent a carrier Pigeon from London, by the coach, to a friend at Bury St. Edmond's; and along with it a note, desiring that the Pigeon, two days after its arrival there, might be thrown up precisely when the town clock struck nine in the morning. This was accordingly done, and the Pigeon arrived in London at half-past eleven o'clock of the same morning, having flown seventy-two miles in two hours and a half. From the instant of its liberation, its flight is directed through the clouds, at an amazing height, to its home. By an instinct altogether inconceivable, it darts onward, in a straight line, to the very spot whence it was taken; but how it can direct its flight so exactly will probably ever remain unknown to us.

The Carrier Pigeon is easily distinguished from the other varieties, by a broad circle of naked white skin round the eyes, and by its dark blue or blackish colour.

Led by what chart, transports the timid Dove
The wreaths of conquest, or the vows of love?

Say, through the clouds, what compass points her flight?
Monarchs have gazed, and nations bless'd the sight.
Pile rocks on rocks, bid woods and mountains rise,
Eclipse her native shades, her native skies ;—
'Tis vain! through ether's pathless wilds she goes,
And lights at last where all her cares repose.
Sweet bird, thy truth shall Harlem's walls attest,
And unborn ages consecrate thy nest.

ROGERS.

BRINGS to the heart and mind recollections of the most pleasing kind; the name is nearly synonymous with faithfulness and unvariable affection. The male or female is so much attached to the respective mate, that it is said, perhaps with more emphasis than truth, that if one die the other will never survive; however, the author of these observations was an eye-witness, that a female Turtledove, having been unfortunately killed by a spaniel in the absence of the male, the disconsolate survivor, after having searched in vain all places where he might find his mate, came and mournfully perched upon the wonted trough, waiting patiently for her to repair thither in order to get food; but after two days of unavailing expectation, he, by spontaneous abstinence, pined and died on the place. These examples are not common; and we believe, that, when not domesticated, the appearance of another female, in the time of coupling, sets at defiance all natural propensity to constancy, and puts an end to the much famed widowhood. The general colour of this bird is a bluish gray; the breast and neck of a kind of whitish purple, with a ringlet of beautiful white feathers with black

edges about the sides of the neck. Nothing can express the sensation which is excited in a feeling mind, when the tender and sweetly plaintive notes of the Turtledove breathe from the grove on a beautiful spring evening; it is the very harmony of the heart.

SWALLOWS are easily distinguished from all other birds, not only by their general structure, but by their twittering voice, and their manner of life. They fly with great rapidity, seldom walk, and perform all their functions either on the wing or sitting.

It has long been a problem, whether these birds emigrate from country to country, or remain the whole winter where they have abided during the summer season, and then hide themselves in caves, banks of rivers, holes of trees, clefts of rocks, to pass the cold months in torpid insensibility. Of the possibility of emigrating there is no doubt, as this bird can remain so long on the wing; on the other hand, of their having been found clustered together, under the shelving banks of rivers and ponds, many instances have

been asserted to prove that they do not migrate; and thus the lover and observer of nature is left in doubt. The probability is that the major part emigrate; and we have proofs that many do, from mariners observing them on their passage. White, and some other naturalists, believe that the early hatched birds leave the country in autumn, and the late broods, not being sufficiently strong on the wing for the passage, remain behind in a dormant state.

There are several species of the Swallow: the general characters, a small beak, but large wide mouth, for the purpose of swallowing flying insects, their natural food; and long forked tail and extensive wings, to enable them to pursue their prey, belong to all of them. The common house Swallow builds under the eaves of houses, or in chimneys, near their top: the martin also builds under eaves, and very commonly against the upper corner or side of our very windows, and seems not afraid at the sight of man, yet it cannot be tamed, or even kept in a cage. The nature of their nest is worthy our serious observation; how the mud is extracted from the sea-shores, rivers, or other watery places; how masoned and formed into a solid building, strong enough to support a whole family, and to face the "pelting storm," are wonders which ought to raise our mind to Him who bestowed that instinct upon them.

It is related that a pair of Swallows built their nest for two successive years on the handle of a pair of garden shears, that were stuck up against the boards in an outhouse; and, therefore, must have had their nest spoiled whenever the implement was wanted. And what is still more strange, a bird of the same species built its nest on the wings and body of an owl that happened to hang dead and dry from the rafter of a barn, and so loose as to be moved by every gust of wind. This owl, with the nest on its wings, and with

eggs in the nest, was taken as a curiosity to the museum of Sir Ashton Lever. That gentleman, struck with the singularity of the sight, furnished the person who brought it with a large shell, desiring him to fix it just where the owl had hung. The man did so; and in the following year a pair of Swallows, probably the same, built their nest in the shell, and laid eggs.

Modern poets have not been unmindful of the Swallows; and our immortal Shakspeare mentions the martin, in Macbeth, in the following manner:

This guest of summer,

The temple haunting Martlet, does approve,
By his loved masonry, that Heaven's breath
Smells wooingly here. No jutting frieze,
Buttress, or coignes of 'vantage, but this bird

Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle :
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed
The air is delicate.

The house Swallow is on the head, neck, back, and rump of a shining black colour, with purple gloss, and sometimes with a blue shade; the throat and neck are of the same colour; the breast and belly are white, with a dash of red. The tail is forked, and consists of twelve feathers. The wings are of the same colour Iwith the back. Swallows feed upon flies, worms, insects; and generally hunt their prey on the wing.

From the low-roof'd cottage ridge,
See the chattering Swallow spring;
Darting through the one-arch'd bridge,
Quick she dips her dappled wing.

CUNNINGHAM.