equable division and wider diffusion of the advantages and enjoyments derivable from the inferior creation. "Had the Creator so willed," remarks a naturalist, "all animals might have been organized so as not to require a warmer or a colder climate for the breeding or rearing of their young. But his will was that some of his best gifts should oscillate, as it were, between two points, that the benefits they conferred might be the more widely distributed, and not become the sole property of the inhabitants of one climate. Thus the swallow gladdens both the sight of the Briton and the African. What can more strongly mark design, and the intention of an all-powerful, all-wise, and beneficent being?" The bird comes to us requiring a temperate summer for the rearing of its young; and thereby it contributes essentially to keep down the insectivorous tribes, which would otherwise become perfect pests. It departs when insect food begins to fail, and would inevitably die of starvation if it remained to brave the winter. So the herring leaves the deep ocean in vast shoals, and approaches the shores to deposit spawn in the shallower and warmer water. The migration places the abundance of the sea within the reach of man; and while his sustenance is ministered unto by the quantities captured, the over-multiplication of a prolific species is checked.

The sand-martin is the smallest of the swallow family, and the first to arrive in these latitudes, often by the close of March, excavating a home in banks of sand. Next comes the common or chimney swallow, usually about the 10th of April, and remains about six months, building in the shafts of unused chimneys, under the shelter of the roofs of outhouses, in turrets intended for bells, generally in the vicinity of water, where insect prey may be regarded as most abundant. The chesnut and blue of the breast distinguish the species from the next, the house-martin, or window-swallow, which appears a few days later, with a snowy-white breast and under-surface, nestling under the eaves of houses and the upper

angles of windows. The swift, the largest of the tribe, and the fastest flier, perhaps also the least numerous, is the latest comer, appearing in the first week of May; and leaves the earliest, in August. It is distinguished from the rest by greater expanse of wing, and a darker hue, and prefers lofty towers and church steeples for building sites, though content with lower stations when these are not to be had.

The great speed of these birds was long remarked before it was estimated. The velocity of express trains will not bear comparison with their rapid flight, for the common swallow has been computed to travel at the rate of ninety miles an hour, and the speed of the swift is nearly twice as great. Under ordinary circumstances, while life lasts, the same birds re-appear in the same localities, and return to the habitations tenanted before, if they remain, the scene of former delights and the cradle of their infancy. Dr. Jenner ascertained this by cutting off two claws from the feet of a certain number, several of which were found in the year following, and one was met with after seven years.

The house-loving, "temple-haunting" habit of the principal species cannot but be remarked with interest, as if a direct appeal to man for protection in this rough world were made, on the ground of his domestic and religious sympathies. Two swallows appearing in church during the celebration of Divine service suggested the following stanzas:

The transition is natural to the Psalm beginning, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts," which, thrown into modern verse, is so often sung in the sanctuary at the commencement of public worship. The writer, whether David, or some later singer of Israel, was evidently distant from Jerusalem at the time, deprived by circumstances of the much-prized privilege of joining the multitude who kept holy day in the tabernacle or the temple. He expresses his attachment to the place of the great congregation,

and ardent desire to repair to it again, by a pleasing reference to the birds of the neighbourhood:

Yea, the sparrow hath found an house,

And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young,

Even thine altars, O Lord of hosts,

My King, and my God."-Psalm lxxxiv. 3.

The swallow has a short modulated strain, repeated at intervals, always ending with a shrill note, rapidly shaken. Early in the morning, he may be heard "twittering from his clay-built shed," or from the chimney top; and previous to the autumnal migration, when groups collect for it, they are voiceful, as if debating the great event of the journey, whether the due time has come, or the season will admit of lingering longer. A wish to remain awhile longer with customary scenes and old associates, when death impends, though ready for the change, is common Christian experience, and the dictate of nature. Hezekiah felt it when smitten with an apparently mortal sickness, and remarked in his hymn of thanksgiving for recovery, when describing his emotions

“Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter (twitter):

I did inourn as a dove."-Isa. xxxviii. 14.

There is peculiar force and beauty in the comparison here made between the dying believer and migratory birds about to depart to a distant clime:

:

"Ye gentle birds that perch aloof,

And smooth your pinions on my roof,
Preparing for departure hence,

Ere winter's angry threats commence ;
Like you, my soul would smooth her plume

For longer flights beyond the tomb.
May God, by whom is seen and heard
Departing man and wandering bird,
In mercy mark us for his own,
And guide us to the land unknown."

These lines were written by Hayley, the friend and biographer of Cowper, in his old age. They are some of the last he composed, and were suggested by seeing the swallows congregate on his turret prior to their departure from the coast of Sussex.

MY LITTLE TENANTS.

PERHAPS I ought rather to call them squatters upon my property, for they neither pay me any rent for the abode they occupy, nor have they tendered any, though they have resided upon it for the last two years. The first information I received of their intention to settle was conveyed by the presence of waste building materials, of no great value certainly, for they consisted only of mud and straw. It will be perceived from this, that the intruders were very humble in their notions, and intended only to employ the same materials as the ancient Britons once used to construct their habitations with.

On seeing these intimations of the presence of strangers on my property, I began to look about for the builders, and, having cunningly ensconced myself in a snug corner, I soon discovered them. They were a newly-wedded pair, remarkable for personal beauty, and an example to married couples generally; for they worked together, and were evidently of one mind in all they did. So prepossessing was the appearance of these young people, that, in spite of their audacious intrusion, I could not find in my heart to disturb them by a notice to quit, but contented myself by keeping a strict watch on all their motions, that I might check a too intrusive disposition, should it display itself.

But soon every other feeling was absorbed in sympatny for the young architects, who were evidently inexperienced, and very un