"Birds and beasts, And the mute fish that glances in the stream, And harmless reptile coiling in the sun, And joyous insect hovering in the air, The fowl domestic and the household clog, In his capacious mind, he loved them all."

Wordsworth.

"I bless Thee, Father, that where'er I go A brotherhood of blessed creatures goes With me, and biddeth me God speed. For all Thy mute and innocent creatures take my thanks; To me they are child brethren without speech Or sin."

St Francis D'Assist.

The Three Wakenings.

" The scented birk and hawthorn white Across the pool their arms unite, Alike to screen the birdie's nest."

Burns.

THE pleasure of our garden would be very incomplete indeed without its living inhabitants; whether these include merely the free, but not unknown, birds of the air or take in also those more cherished companions, generally known by the term of "pets." No doubt, in a small place, the latter are sometimes voted plagues, and it is often pretty evident that our friends so esteem them; so it can only be from the real genuine lover of "pet animals" that I can hope for any sympathy, when I truly and deliberately class " our pets" among "our pleasures."

Every one likes birds. I should be sorry to meet any one who did not; but it is not very common to find those who have the faculty of making friendships among their feathered favourites : for, in general, people seem to value birds more for their song than for aught else, and many, too many, value their fruit more than the songsters, and allow a yearly destruction of these creatures to take place, which is distressing indeed to all lovers and friends of the feathered tribes. It is curious to observe how soon birds discover the places where they will not be molested, and how soon many of them shew the confidence they feel in our protection, by building near us, by remaining on the nest even when looked at, and by bringing their young ones, when flown, to our feet to be fed. The blackbird and chaffinch are especially familiar in this way. I have known more than one instance of a blackbird building her nest within reach of the hand, in the roses which covered the porch, or in the ivy close to the window : and, indeed, on one occasion so satisfied was the mother bird with her public position in the little porch, that after her first family had flown, she settled herself again in the same nest and brought out a second brood, undisturbed by the constant passing and repassing of all, and the frequent pointing her out to friends. This last action, however, I must protest against; the less a nest when known is looked at the better; if it can be seen from a little distance, or by a glance in passing, a quiet look now and then will do no harm; but all putting aside the branches, or touching the nest, must be carefully avoided. It was the saying of one who knew well the habits and loved the acquaintanceship of his birds, that "a nest, like a secret, should be known only to one person." So, if you wish to have your pets confiding and secure, don't shew your nests, don't allow any hunting for them to go on, and never allow any one to touch the eggs. There is not only the risk of making the bird forsake if you do, but there is also the danger of letting the nest be seen by the magpies. These cunning egg-fanciers are ever on the alert, and seem to guess that a nest is concealed in any bush to which frequent visits are paid, and the branches thereby displaced. When the birds are hatched, there is not the same likelihood that your looking at the nest will cause the parent bird to leave them; but let no hand be put into it, for it frequently happens that the young birds spring out of the nest when thus frightened, before they are fully fledged, and thus fall a prey to cats, or die of cold. When I see the reckless way a discovered nest is too often treated - shewn to every one - boys allowed to count the eggs - children lifted up to peep into it, holding back the branches all the time, I wonder not at the disappearance and the wildness of the small birds in that place. How differently have I seen birds and their nests guarded by one who loved them well. I remember a favourite garden walk being given up one spring, because a pair of wood-pigeons had built in a large sycamore near the middle of the path; and another summer, the front door was left open all day, because a pair of swallows had built their nest, so that the bell-wire ran through it, and no one could ring the bell without disturbing them. The swallows never returned; but the wood-pigeons came back year after year, and both the old birds and their young ones became so tame that we no longer needed to avoid passing under their tree, but used to see them pacing about the garden almost like tame pigeons. The chaffinch seems more inclined to form what may be called a personal friendship for some one individual in its free state than even the redbreast; the latter, especially in autumn, is familiar with almost any one, but the chaffinch is not, and those I have known that thus singled out, as it were, one friend, would not come at the call of any one else. What a little tyrant to his gentle master was one that I recall, flying to meet him no doubt whenever he appeared in the garden, but scolding in a loud shrill key if crumbs of bread were not immediately forthcoming; and after his young ones were hatched, it was alleged that "Shilfa" preferred bread and milk to dry crumbs, and most certainly he often scolded on, refusing the bread, till the moistened crumbs were brought, when he would fill his beak and be off to his gaping family. For several summers I have known these birds, (I know not if the same individuals,) establish thus a right to have their children provided for; and we always knew when the eggs were hatched, by the constant and vehement demands of the cock chaffinch at the open window or in the garden, for a supply of food for them. The hen chaffinch is quieter and less familiar, though she sometimes sits on a branch and scolds for food; but her mate is a regular beggar, and I am sure, like all such, his morals became corrupted, and he disliked the trouble of working for his family, and so brought them up on spoon meat, instead of hunting for flies and caterpillars for them! The chaffinch is rather a pugnacious bird in spring, and, like the robin, he keeps his own beat, and drives off others who come to be fed; and both he and the blackbird bring their young ones to be fed after they leave the nest, thus seeking, as it were, to make the friendship hereditary. The young robins, on the contrary, make their own friends; and certainly few birds are more attractive than a little speckled-breasted robin, who comes half shyly towards you from among the gooseberry bushes; and, growing more bold by degrees, follows you about, perching on the edge of the wheelbarrow, and seeming as if he thus attached himself to you more for the pleasure of your society and the superintending of your work, than from any desire to be fed; but woe betide, nevertheless, any luckless insect, however small, that is turned up by the spade - robin is down upon it in an instant, his bright keen eye detecting his prey where you can see nothing. I have heard people ask where all the robins go in summer, for they never see them but in winter : they certainly get shyer in spring; but we have had robins frequently who continued known to us after the breeding season commenced, the cock taking crumbs under the bushes, with which he fed the hen, she being much more timid. It was the opinion of the late James Wilson that the female robins migrate in winter; in the article Ornithology, in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," he says:-"We have a notion that in Scotland the female redbreast is migratory. At least, in the vicinity of Edinburgh, we recognise her not throughout the winter. All the individuals then about our gardens sing and fight, till, in the month of March, some strangers shew themselves, but do not sing, and are immediately followed and fed by the resident males, at which time they (the supposed females) utter a low hissing note, and flutter their wings like young dependent birds. This we have often seen and vouch for."