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Endeavouring, by a thousand tricks, to catch
The cunning, confcious, half-averted glance
Of their regardless charmer. Should she seem
Softening the least approvance to bestow,
Their colours burnifh, and by hope infpir'd,
They brisk advance; then, on a sudden struck,
Retire diforder'd; then again approach;
In fond rotation fpread the spotted wing,
And shiver every feather with defire.

Connubial leagues agreed, to the deep woods
They hafte away, all as their fancy leads,
Pleasure, or food, or fecret fafety prompts;
That NATURE's great command may be obey'd;
Nor all the sweet fenfations they perceive
Indulg'd in vain. Some to the holly-hedge
Neftling repair, and to the thicket fome ;
Some to the rude protection of the thorn
Commit their feeble offspring: the cleft tree
Offers its kind concealment to a few,

Their food its infects, and its moss their nests.
Others apart far in the graffy dale,

Or roughening waste, their humble texture weave.
But most in woodland folitudes delight,

In unfrequented glooms, or fhaggy banks,
Steep, and divided by a babbling brook,

Whofe murmurs foothe them all the live-long day,
When by kind duty fix'd. Among the roots
Of hazel, pendant o'er the plaintive ftream,
They frame the first foundation of their domes ;
Dry fprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid,

And bound with clay together. Now 'tis nought
But restless hurry thro' the busy air,

Beat by unnumber'd wings. The fwallow fweeps
The flimy 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 unobferv'd,
Steal from the barn a ftraw: till foft and warm,
Clean, and complete, their habitation grows.

As thus the patient dam affiduous fits,
Not to be tempted from her tender task,
Or by sharp hunger, or by smooth delight,
Tho' the whole loofen'd Spring around her blows,
Her fympathizing lover takes his ftand

High on th' opponent bank, and ceafelefs fings
The tedious time away; or else supplies
Her place a moment, while she sudden flits
To pick the fcanty meal. Th' appointed time
With pious toil fulfill'd, the callow young,
Warm'd and expanded into perfect life,

Their brittle bondage break, and come to light,
A helplefs family, demanding food

With conftant clamour: O what paffions then,
What melting fentiments of kindly care,
On the new parents feize! Away they fly
Affectionate, and undefiring bear

The most delicious morfel to their young;
Which equally distributed, again

The fearch begins. Even fo a gentle pair,
By fortune funk, but form'd of generous mold,
And charm'd with cares beyond the vulgar breast,
In fome lone cot, amid the distant woods,
Suftain'd alone by providential HEAVEN,
Oft, as they weeping eye their infant train,
Check their own appetites, and give them all.
Nor toil alone they fcorn; exalting love,
By the great FATHER OF THE SPRING infpir'd,
Gives inftant courage to the fearful race,
And to the fimple art.
With ftealthy wing,

Should fome rude foot their woody haunts moleft,
Amid a neighbouring bush they silent drop,
And whirring thence, as if alarm'd, deceive

Th' unfeeling school-boy. Hence, around the head
Of wandering fwain, the white-wing'd plover wheels
Her founding flight, and then directly on

In long excursion skims the level lawn,

To tempt him from her neft. The wild-duck, hence,
O'er the rough mofs, and o'er the trackless wafte
The heath-hen flutters, pious fraud! to lead
The hot purfuing fpaniel far aftray.

Be not the Muse asham'd, here to bemoan
Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant Man
Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage
From liberty confin'd, and boundless air.
Dull are the pretty flaves, their plumage dull,
Ragged, and all its brightening luftre loft;
Nor is that sprightly wildnefs in their notes,
Which, clear and vigorous, warbles from the beech.
O then, ye friends of love, and love-taught fong,
Spare the foft tribes, this barbarous art forbear;
bofom innocence can win,

If

on your

Mufic engage, or piety perfuade.

But let not chief the nightingale lament
Her ruin'd care, too delicately fram'd
To brook the harsh confinement of the cage.
Oft when, returning with her loaded bill,
Th' aftonish'd mother finds a vacant nest,
By the hard hand of unrelenting clowns
Robb'd, to the ground the vain provision falls;
Her pinions ruffle, and low-drooping fcarce

Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade;
Where, all abandon'd to despair, the fings
Her forrows thro' the night; and, on the bough,
Sole-fitting, ftill at every dying fall

Takes up again her lamentable strain

Of winding woe; till, wide around, the woods
Sigh to her fong, and with her wail refound.

But now the feather'd youth their former bounds, Ardent, disdain; and, weighing oft their wings, Demand the free poffeffion of the sky:

This one glad office more, and then diffolves
Parental love at once, now needless grown.
Unlavish Wisdom never works in vain.

'Tis on fome evening, funny, grateful, mild,
When nought but balm is breathing thro' the woods,
With yellow luftre bright, that the new tribes
Visit the spacious heavens, and look abroad
On Nature's common, far as they can see,

Or wing, their range and pasture. O'er the boughs
Dancing about, ftill at the giddy verge
Their refolution fails; their pinions ftill,
In loose libration stretch'd, to trust the void
Trembling refuse: till down before them fly
The parent-guides, and chide, exhort, command,
Or push them off. The furging air receives

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