April, the walks of Pamphili Doria resound with the sweet notes of the nightingale both day and night; and, from February to midJuly, the thrush and blackbird pour forth incessant strains of melody. There stands in this inclosure a magnificent blackbird, blue thrush, jays, magpies, rooks, hooded crows, hedge sparrows, hawks, siskins, common larks, black-throated larks, titlarks, smaller larks, judcocks, land rails, combs from the heads of cocks, fowl and turkey legs and feet, buzzards, curlews, small stints, redwings, pochards, falcons, civetta owls, whinchats, windhover hawks, kites, stone curlews, jackdaws, shoveler ducks, gobbo ducks, hedgehogs, water hens, spotted water hens, bitterns, mergansers, stormcocks, porcupines, foxes, goats, kids, yellow wagtails, fieldfares, hooting owls, horned owls, barn owls, wheatears, redstarts, three species, nightingales, yellow-breasted chats, stonechats, brown-headed shrikes, common shrikes, little terns, gulls, Guinea fowls, goatsuckers, eggs from the ovarium of all sizes, wind eggs, larger white egret, common heron, turkeys, guts of turkeys and common fowls, swifts, swallows, starlings, little bitterns, white-winged bitterns, large bitterns, bullfinches, chaffinches, water tortoises, turtle doves, water rails, shags, red-throated mergansers, badgers, lesser spotted woodpeckers, smallest woodpeckers, green woodpeckers, small white-throated mergansers, common wrens, common gold-crested wrens, splendid-golden crested wrens, house sparrows, mountain sparrows, mountain sparrows with yellow speck on the throat, olive-throated bunting, crested grebes, Canary birds, hoopoes, rollers, bee-eaters, golden orioles. Add to this list butcher's meat of all descriptions, and the finest fruits and vegetables, and flowers. N. B. If a man cannot get fat in this city at a very moderate expense, it must be his own fault. grove of stone pines, vast in their dimensions, and towering in their height. Here the harmless jackdaw nestles, here the hooded crow is seen, here the starling breeds in numbers, and here the roller, decked in all the brilliant plumage of the tropics, comes to seek his daily fare. But, as far as I could perceive, after two seasons of observation, he does not make his nest in the trees. Holes in lofty walls, and in stately ruins, are the favourite places for his nidification. The cradle plumage of his young displays the metallic colours of after-life; hence, there is no perceptible difference in the appearance of the adult male and female. After passing the summer months in Europe, he returns to Africa at the autumnal equinox. The aerial movements of this bird put one in mind of our own rook, when in the act of shooting downwards from on high. He rises perpendicularly, and then descends in rapid zigzag evolutions, during which process, if you get betwixt the sun and him, you have a magnificent view of his lovely plumage. His voice has something in it of the united notes of the jay and magpie. Innovations in modern ornithology, so prolific of scientific confusion and unimportant distinctions, have removed this bird from the family of Pie, where it had had a place from time immemorial; thus rendering useless its most ancient name of Pica marina. It was known in the time of the Romans. "Picus in auspiciis avis observata Latinis;" and it was also admitted into heathen mythology. Virgil alludes to the beautiful colours in its wing; and above two thousand years ago, when the gods used to change men into other animals, just as easily as we nowadays change our acts of parliament, the Pica marina was both king and horsebreaker, " equum domitor." He was married to the celebrated Circe, an enchantress of the first order; she who changed the sailors of Ulysses into swine. The royal horsebreaker had unfortunately shown a partiality for a young woman in his own neighbourhood, a thing not altogether unknown in our days. This so enraged his wife, that with her magic rod, far more potent than finger nails, she transformed him into a bird; and, at the same time, bespangled his wings with beautiful colours. "Fecit avem Circe, sparsitque coloribus alas." THE HOLLY. "See, Winter comes to rule the varied year, THOMSON. I AM very partial to the holly, the yew, and the ivy. They give both food and shelter to the birds; whilst their charming green foliage makes us almost forget that winter has set in. The holly claims my preference; for, in addition to food and shelter, it affords an impenetrable retreat to those birds which take up their quarters on its branches for the night. Our ancestors knew and felt the value of the holly hedge, when the wintry blast whistled through the naked hawthorn. Hence they raised it as a barrier against the north; and, on the breaking of the clouds at noon, they would resort to the protection which it offered, and there enjoy the sun's delightful presence. But modern innovation, which, in nine times out of ten, does more harm than good, seems to have condemned the holly hedge as a thing of stiff unsightly form, and in its vacant place has in troduced a scanty sprinkling of isolated plants. I own that I am for the warm arboreous plan of ancient days; and thus I never pass a garden where yew and holly hedges grow, without stopping to admire them, and then I proceed onwards with favourable notions of the owner's taste. But, to the holly in particular. I am so convinced of its utility both to men and birds, that I have spared no pains in rearing it as a shelter from the cold, when Boreas, sure harbinger of storms, sweeps over the dreary waste. The deeper and richer the soil, so much the better for the holly. Still, this favourite plant of mine will thrive almost in any soil, and even amongst the clefts of rocks, where there is scarcely any soil at all. Neither can any of the four rude winds of heaven affect the perpendicular growth of the holly tree, although they make an impression upon the sturdy oak itself. Thus, in this neighbourhood, whilst we see the elm and the beech leaning towards the east by the overbearing pressure of the western blast, we find that the holly has not given way to its impetuosity. Indeed, keep the roots of the holly clear of stagnant water, and you have little D |