Nestling repair, and to the thicket some ;
Some to the rude protection of the thorn

685
Commit their feeble offspring. The cleft tree
Offers its kind concealment to a few,
Their food its insects, and its moss their nests.
Others apart, far in the grassy dale,
Or roughening waste, their humble texture weave. 640
But most in woodland solitudes delight,
In unfrequented glooms, or shaggy banks,
Steep, and divided by a babbling brook,
Whose murmurs sooth them all the livelong day,
When by kind duty fixed. Among the roots 645
Of hazel, pendent o'er the plaintive stream,
They frame the first foundation of their domes;
Dry sprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid,
And bound with clay together. Now 'tis nought
But restless hurry through the busy air,

650 Beat by unnumbered wings. The swallow sweeps The slimy pool, to build his hanging house Intent. And often, from the careless back Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills Pluck hair and wool; and oft, when unobserved, 688 Steal from the barn a straw: till, soft and warm, Clean and complete, their habitation grows.

As thus the patient dam assiduous sits, Not to be tempted from her tender task, Or by sharp hunger or by smooth delight, 660 Though the whole loosened Spring around her blows, Her sympathizing lover takes his stand High on th' opponent bank, and ceaseless sings The tedious time away; or else supplies Her place a moment, while she sudden flits 665 To pick the scanty meal. Th' appointed time With pious toil fulfilled, the callow young, Warmed and expanded into perfect life, Their brittle bondage break, and come to light, A helpless family, demanding food

070 With constant clamor: 0, what passions thon,

What melting sentiments of kindly care,
5 On the new parents seize! Away they fiy

Affectionate, and undesiring bear
The most delicious morsel to their young;

675 Which equally distributed, again

The search begins. E'en so a gentle pair, 1 By fortune sunk, but formed of generous mould,

And charmed with cares beyond the vulgar breast, ; In some lone cot amid the distant woods,

680 Sustained alone by providential Heaven, Oft, as they weeping eye their infant train, Check their own appetites, and give them all.

Nor toil alone they scorn: exalting love, By the great Father of the Spring inspired, 685 Gives instant courage to the fearful race,

And, to the simple, art. With stealthy wing,
| Should some rude foot their woody haunts molest,

Amid a neighboring bush they silent drop,
And whirring thence, as if alarmed, deceive 690
Th’unfeeling schoolboy. Hence, around the head
Of wandering swain, the white-winged plover wheels

ler sounding flight, and then directly on
in long excursiòn skinıs the level lawn
To tempt him from her nest. The wild-duck, hence,
O'er the rough moss, and o'er the trackless waste 696
The heath-hen flutters, pious fraud ! to lead
The hot-pursuing spaniel far astray.

Be not the Muse ashamed here to bemoan
Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant Man 700
Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage
From liberty confined and boundless air.
Dull are the pretty slaves, their plumage dull,
Ragged, and all its brightening lustre lost :
Nor is that sprightly wildness in their notes, 705
Which, clear and vigorous, warbles from the beech.
0, then, ye friends of love and love-taught song,
Spare the soft tribes, this barbarous art forbear,

725

If on your bosom innocence can win,
Music engage, or piety persuade.

710
But let not chief the nightingale lament
Her ruined care, too delicately framed
To brook the harsh confinement of the cage.
Oft when, returning with her loaded bill,
Th’astonished mother finds a vacant nest,

715 By the hard hands of unrelenting clowns Robbed, to the ground the vain provision falls; Her pinions rufile, and low drooping scarce Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade ; Where, all abandoned to despair, she sings 720 Her sorrows through the night; and, on the bough, Sole sitting, still at every dying fall Takes up again her lamentable strain Of winding wo; till, wide around, the woods Sigh to her song, and with her wail resound.

But now the feathered youth their former bounds, Ardent, disdain ; and, weighing oft their wings, Demand the free possession of the sky: This one glad office more, and then dissolves Parental love at once, now needless grown.

730 Unlavish Wisdom never works in vain. 'Tis on some evening, sunny, grateful, mild, When nought but balm is breathing through the woods, With yellow lustre bright, that the new tribes Visit the spacious heavens, and look abroad 735 On Nature's common, far as they can see, Or wing, their range and pasture. O'er the boughs Dancing about, still at the giddy verge Their resolution fails; their pinions still, In loose libration stretched, to trust the void 740 Trembling refuse : till down before them fly The parent guides, and chide, exhort, command, Or push them off. The surging air receives Its plumy burden; and their self-taught wings Winnow the waying element. On ground

:

745

Alighted, bolder up again they lead,
Farther and farther on, the lengthening flight;
Till vanished every fear, and every power
Roused into life and action, light in air
Th'acquitted parents see their soaring race,

750 And once rejoicing never know .them more.

High from the summit of a craggy cliff, Hung o'er the deep, such as amazing frowns On utmost Kilda's* shore, whose lonely race Resign the setting sun to Indian worlds,

755 The royal eagle draws his vigorous young, Strong-pounced, and ardent with paternal fire. Now fit to raise a kingdom of their own, He drives them from his fort, the towering seat, For ages, of his empire, which, in peace, 760 Unstained he holds, while many a league to sea He wings his course, and preys in distant isles.

Should I my steps turn to the rural seat, Whose lofty elms and venerable oaks Invite the rook, who high amid the boughs, 765 In early Spring, his airy city builds, And ceaseless caws amusive ; there, well pleased, I might the various polity survey Of the mixed household kind. The careful hen Calls all her chirping family around,

770 Fed and uefended by the fearless cock; Whose breast with ardor flames, as on he walks, Graceful, and crows defiance. In the pond, The finely-checkered duck, before her train, Rows garrulous. The stately-sailing swan 775 Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale; And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier isle, Protective of his young. The turkey nigh, Loud threatening, reddens; while the peacock spreado His every-colored glory to the sun,

781 And swims in radiant majesty along.

O'er the whole homely scene the cooing dove
Flies thick in amorous chase, and wanton rolls
The glancing eye, and turns the changeful neck. 785

While thus the gentle tenants of the shade
Indulge their purer loves, the rougher world
Of brutes below rush furious into flame
And fierce desire. Through all his lusty veins
The bull, deep scorched, the raging passion feels. 790
Of pasture sick, and negligent of food,
Scarce seen, he wades among the yellow broom,
While o'er his ample sides the rambling sprays
Luxuriant shoot; or through the mazy wood
Dejected wanders, nor th' enticing bud

795
Crops, though it presses on his careless sense.
And oft, in jealous, maddening fancy wrapped,
He seeks the fight; and, idly butting, feigns
His rival gored in every knotty trunk.
Him should he meet, the bellowing war begins; 800
Their

eyes flash fury; to the hollowed earth,
Whence the sand flies, they mutter bloody deeds,
And, groaning deep, th’impetuous battle mix:
While the fair heifer, balmy-breathing, near,
Stands kindling up their rage. The trembling steed,
With this hot impulse seized in every nerve,

806
Nor heeds the rein, nor hears the sounding thong;
Blows are not felt; but, tossing high his head,
And by the well-known joy to distant plains
Attracted strong, all wild he bursts away,

810
O'er rocks and woods and craggy mountains flies,
And, neighing, on th' aerial summit takes
Th’exciting gale; then, steep-descending, cleaves
The headlong torrents foaming down the hills,
E'en where the madness of the straitened stream 815
Turns in black eddies round: such is the force
With which his frantic heart and sinews swell

Nor undelighted by the boundless Spring
Are the broad monsters of the foaming deep.
From the deep ooze and gelid cavern roused,