wholly white; the interior feathers of the tail white; the exterior marked with dusky bars the legs, which are short and thick, are feathered to the feet; the toes are armed with strong hooked talons; the edge of the middle claw is jagged. The eyes are black and piercing, and surrounded by a circle of thick, soft, white feathers, which appear intended to defend the eyes from too great a glare of light.

The white owl is almost domestic; inhabiting, for the most part, our barns, haylofts, granaries, and other out-houses; and is very useful to the farmer in clearing these places from mice.

Towards twilight it quits its perch, where it has sat dosing during the day, and takes a regular circuit round the fields, skimming along the ground in quest of mice and other small vermin. Country people pretend to prognosticate the weather by the flight of this bird.

They seldom stay out long together, re

turning to their old retreat to devour their prey, which they carry in their claws. This species do not hoot, but hiss and snore; and while they fly along the ground, will scream most frightfully. They are a bird of prey entirely, but their principal food is mice and birds: like all their species, the light is extremely obnoxious to them, and appears to render them blind while exposed to its influence, as they stagger and often fall backward, when brought to a strong glare of sunshine. They are remarkably fierce when offended, and will bite and tear with their claws any thing that comes in their way.

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CHAPTER V.

THE YOUNG LEVERETS.

ONE cold, bright afternoon in February, my sister Susanna and I having obtained permission from mamma, went out to take a ramble by ourselves in some pretty wild, woody lanes that skirted the park and grounds of a nobleman, whose land lay contiguous to our own estate.

In spite of the keen influence of a northeast wind, we enjoyed our stroll exceedingly; finding plentiful amusement in listening to the cheerful carol of the robin, and the first melodious songs of the blackbird (turdus merula) and thrush, (turdus musicus,) that saluted us from every bush and thicket; and marking the early buds beginning to unfold on the hedgeA few sunny days had coaxed into

rows.

greenness the woodbine, whose mantle of sad-coloured verdure was kindly flung across the leafless sprays of the hawthorn, and the naked branches of the young saplings, as if to shield them from the chilling gales of winter, while it sought support for its own weak, fragile stem.

The elder* too had yielded to the same genial influence, and gave promise of returning spring. Though its leaves are of a sad colour, and somewhat coarse in texture, I love the elder. It is one of spring's earliest heralds; it tells of buds and blos

* Sambucus nigra, a black-berried elder; so called from a musical instrument called Sambuca, formerly in use among the ancients, supposed to have been made of the elder-wood. This tree is common all over England, but was brought originally from Germany, where it is a native. The elder unfolds its leaves in February and March; it is one of our earliest deciduous trees that resumes its green livery: it blossoms in May and June. The leaves and flowers of the elder were formerly held in much esteem for their medicinal and healing qualities.

soms yet to come: its broad umbels of white flowers give great effect to the closely wooded lane, standing forward among the lighter foliage in beautiful relief: it comes too when the blackthorn, the whitethorn, and crab-trees have shed their blossoms; and its rich clusters of ripe purple fruit in autumn look very imposing, and afford a pleasant beverage in winter for the poor, whose luxuries are so few; besides employing many women and children at that season gathering the berries for sale, which, when duly freed from the stalks, are sold at the rate of one shilling, or one shilling and fourpence per peck.

Beside the elder we noticed the gosling willow, here and there bursting its prison, and putting forth its downy head to view; and on a close inspection might be seen the delicate tassels of bright crimson that terminate the slender sprigs of the hazle bushes; while high above them, the powdery catkins, or male blossoms, wave grace