mice and snakes are the chief food of their young. It is now but very seldom that we are indulged with a sight of the beautiful gyrations of this bird, or of seeing it supporting itself in the air with a motion almost imperceptible. Its sweeping circles are peculiarly elegant, and often have I watched them with the greatest pleasure. How much is it to be regretted that this noble bird should have been doomed to destruction by those, who have taken but little trouble to enquire into its asserted predatory habits.

When the kite was more numerous than it is at present, its appearance was hailed as the harbinger of fine weather. Bacon tells us that when it was seen flying aloft it portended fair and fine weather.

See gentle brooks, how quietly they glide,
Kissing the rugged banks on either side;
While in their crystal streams at once they show,
And with them feed the flow'rs which they bestow,
Though rudely throng'd by a too near embrace,
In gentle murmurs they keep on their race.

DENHAM.

I HAVE Occasionally found myself strolling on the banks of one of those little narrow streams which wriggle, if the expression may be used, through some green verdant meadows. Here and there bull-rushes, water-docks, and other aquatic plants nearly meet as they bend towards each other from either side. In some places there are deep holes, generally under the roots of some stunted alder or willow - pollard, and here and there, in places where cattle have made a passage, the water trickles over a gravelly bottom,* sparkling as the sun-beams fall upon it. The banks are generally undermined by the winter floods, and are full of rat holes, one of which is occasionally the resort of the kingfisher, which darts by now and then with a silent rapidity. Water-hens are abundant in these localities, and may be seen of an evening

* This is a favourite place of resort for a swarm of little fish "fry innumerable."

peering over the meadows in search of food, and jerking their white tails as they wander about; nothing can be more agreeable than a stroll on a fine day by the side of one these little modest streamlets. They have but little inducement for the angler, but much for the naturalist. Here he may gather nature's nosegay of sweetest flowers, while he reclines on a bank,

whereon the wild thyme blows, Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows; Quite over canopied with lush woodbine,

or listen to

The lark, who amid the clear blue sky,
Carols, but is not seen.

The very remembrance of these scenes is delightful, for they leave a freshness in the mind which time cannot obliterate. I am thankful that my official employments enable me still occasionally to enjoy them, and I can exclaim with the poet of Wiltshire as I walk on the banks of a favourite river, or sit under the shade of a tree by its sides

'tis pleasant when thy breath is on the leaves
Without, to rest in this embowering shade,
And mark the green fly, circling to and fro,

O'er the still water, with his dragon wings

Shooting from bank to bank, now in quick turns,
Then swift athwart, as is the gazer's glance,
Pursuing still his mate.*

* MR. BOWLES.

Such walks and scenes as I have described conduce to a healthy state both of body and mind, and enable us

To meet life's peaceful evening with a smile.

Our beautiful meadow scenery may, perhaps, be called exclusively English. The verdure of the grass, the variety of flowers, the song of the lark on high, and of the nightingale in the tangled hedge, the thrush heard in the distance on the top of some spreading oak, and the swallow taking its persevering and elegant flight, now aloft and then skimming over the surface of the meadow, are to be heard and seen in this country only, at least collectively. Many of the trees, also, which are met with on the banks of some of our streams are full of beauty. It has been remarked that the weeping willow,

which dips

Its pendant boughs, stooping as if to drink,

was the only one of its species that can be called beautiful; surely, however, those who have seen our common willow,* unpollarded and unlopped, as nature intended it to be, must confess that it is not only a beautiful and graceful tree, but also a picturesque one. Even when pollarded, it adds

* See some beautiful specimens of the willow, in the Poet Young's garden at Welwyn, which have been suffered to grow uninjured and unpruned.

from

to the charm of meadow scenery. Some of the old trees I have met with on the banks of a rivulet, throw out their bold roots in a direction away it, then again grasp the ground, as if mindful that the undermining of the bank by the action of the water would cause their destruction. It is amongst these roots that sheep delight to bask. Sometimes, also, I see them under the dry bank of the stream, where they appear to have made a resting place for themselves during the heat of the day.

A little bank there was,

With alder-copse and willow over grown,
Now worn away with winter floods.

As the evening approaches, they scatter themselves abroad in search of food, and then the "tinkling bell" may be heard, another of those rural sounds which add a charm to the country.

But it is time to close my little sketch of rural scenery. It is best enjoyed when the air is soft and balmy, and when all nature puts on a smiling aspect. At such a time we may well rejoice in the prospect around us, and offer up our tribute of gratitude and love to Him, who has spread before us so many objects for our gratification and delight.