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Ambitious to be or seen or heard,

And pleased to be admired.

This moss-lined shed, green, soft, and dry,
Harbours a self-contented Wren,

Not shunning man's abode, though shy,
Almost as thought itself, of human ken.

Strange places, coverts unendear'd,

She never tried; the very nest

In which this child of Spring was rear'd,

Is warm'd through winter by her feathery breast.

To the bleak winds she sometimes gives
A slender, unexpected strain!

That tells the Hermitess still lives,

Though she appear not, and be sought in vain.

Say, Dora! tell me by yon placid moon,

If call'd to choose between the favour'd pair, Which would you be,—the bird of the saloon, By ladies' fingers tended with nice care, Caress'd, applauded, upon dainties fed,Or Nature's darling of this mossy shed?

THE SWALLOW PEOPLE.

Thomson.

WHEN Autumn scatters his departing gleams,
Warn'd of approaching Winter, gather'd, play
The Swallow People; and, toss'd wide around,
O'er the calm sky, in convolution swift,
The feather'd eddy floats; rejoicing once,
E'er to their wintry slumbers they retire.

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Or rather into warmer climes convey'd,

With other kindred birds of season, there
They twitter cheerful, till the vernal months
Invite them welcome back. .

The stork assembly meets; for many a day
Consulting deep, and various, ere they take
Their arduous voyage through the liquid sky.
And now, their route design'd, their leaders chose,
Their tribes adjusted, clean'd their vigorous
wings,

And many a circle, many a short essay, Wheel'd round and round, in congregation fell The figured flight ascends, and, riding high The aërial billows, mixes with the clouds.

SINGING BIRDS.

Ben Jonson.

HARK! how each bough a several music yields;
The lusty Throstle, early Nightingale,
Accord in tune, though vary in their tale.
The chirping Swallow, called forth by the sun,
And crested Lark, doth her division run.
The yellow Bees the air with music fill,

The Finches carol, and the Turtles bill.

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