"I read my Maker's name exalted high In golden letters on the starry sky; Nor less the mystic characters I see, Wrought in each flower, inscribed on every tree."

Therefore they are not led by nature up to Him without whom was nothing made that is made; thus they lose that pleasure in contemplating his works, which the wise and the good so keenly relish.

It was a beautiful idea of Linnæus, the great father of systematic botany, (one who like our own Ray saw God in creation,) to construct a natural clock of flowers, the respective opening of each of which indicated the hour; nor less so, his suggestion to the husbandmen of his country to watch the unfolding and growth of the leaves of various trees, in order that they might derive from them certain data, by which to be directed in their agricultural labours; a suggestion followed out by Harold Barch, whose application of this natural calendar to husbandry led to some useful information. The flowering of plants and the foliation of trees are proofs that the earth is prepared, that the atmospheric temperature is congenial, for certain operations. In Sweden, the leafing of the birch was found to indicate the best time for sowing barley; the flowering of the marsh gentian, the best time for mowing. Green-house plants should not be trusted to the open air till the leaves of the oak begin to be developed.

Plants, though not capable of sensation, are yet living bodies; and in their cells and tubes, are carried on operations analogous to those in the vessels and glandular cells of animal bodies. The cells of plants are, in fact, laboratories for various processes; in which, from the sap, are elaborated gum, sugar, starch, and woody matter; in some, volatile or fixed oily secretions are produced; in others, resin; in others, acids; in others, caustic alkalines. It cannot be doubted, the secretions in the various cells of plants are intended some definite purpose,

to answer

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worms

agent in both instances appears to be an acid, which is here probably the oxalic, acting upon the carbonate of lime, and producing the gradual excavation of the rock. This view of the subject is confirmed by the observation that the same species of lichen when attached to rocks, which are not calcareous, remains always at the surface and does not penetrate below it." We often, again, find buds covered with a resinous secretion, which appears to be spread over them for the purpose of repelling the entrance of water, which might injure the tender leaf, closed up within; it may also prevent the ravages of some peculiar insects, which, but for such a protection, would effectually destroy the yet unfolded germs. Many plants, as the ceroxylon, have their stems covered with a thick coating of wax, probably for the same intent. A bluish or white powder is often found as a close coating of fruit, and of leaves, as on the leaves of the mesembryanthemum, and the common cabbage. All must have remarked how readily the fresh leaves of the latter plant throw off the water; and how when immersed in water, they may be taken out, the surface remaining unwetted. In this respect, they remind us of the plumage of the duck and similar birds, which swim and dive, their feathers continuing dry and uninjured. Many aquatic plants have their leaves covered with an oleaginous or viscid secretion, rendering them slippery to the touch, and as in the batrachospermum, impermeable to water. In the nettle, the stinging properties of which are well known, the hair-like spines are analogous to the poison fangs of serpents; at the base of each, is a little vesicle, filled with a peculiar fluid, whence it is conducted through a fine tube to the point when the naked hand comes in contact with these spines they inflict in the skin a very minute puncture, which

were it not for the secretion instilled into it, would not be felt; this secretion is of an alkaline nature, and is highly caustic; and it is to this that the redness and irritation of the skin, which the stinging of a nettle occasions, is owing. It has been a matter of conjecture how far the circulation of the juices in the vessels of plants resembles that of the blood in the animal frame. In plants with white acrid opaque juice, as the poppy, the convolvulus, etc.; the vessels in which this fluid is contained exhibit ramifications and junctions resembling those of the blood vessels of animals; and the microscope shows that the fluids contained in these vessels are moving in currents with considerable velocity, as the motions of their globules sufficiently attests: this circulation no doubt arises from the vital contraction of the vessels; it is quicker when the temperature of the atmosphere is elevated, and ceases when the plant has received an injury: but the extent of the circuit traversed by a given portion of juice is limited. Though observed most commonly in plants with milky juices, a circulation of this kind is not limited to them; it is found in some plants with nearly transparent juices, as the chara, or stonewort, the tradescantia virginica, etc. In the caulinia fragilis, a jointed or knotted plant, (of which the engraving is a magnified representation,) a double current, one

stream ascending, the other descending, performs a circulation, confined to the interspace between every two joints.

But it is time to stop this lecture. If vegetation is busy, one of its destroyers is sure to be abroad; the common shelled snail (Helix nemorosa) is creeping over the dewy herbage. Gilbert White remarks thus :-" The shell-less snails, called slugs, are in motion all the winter in mild weather, and commit great depredations on garden plants, and much injure the green wheat, the loss of which is imputed to earth worms; while the shelled snail does not come forth till about the 10th of April." The shelled snail in fact hybernates; in autumn, it retires with others to holes in trees, or walls, or under the roots of hedges; and then closing up the orifice or door of its house, with a thick operculum or lid, formed of the viscid mucus, which it abundantly secretes, and which hardens into a firm semitransparent membrane; it remains within, dormant, and secured from the inclemencies of the weather. The black slug also hybernates.

Hark! the cuckoo's call proclaims the advance of spring. This well-known bird is migratory, and leaves us in July, so that its stay is short; the familiar note is uttered by the male bird alone, the female making only a weak chattering noise. Its food consists of larvæ, especially those of moths and butterflies, but other insects are also eaten. White observed on one occasion, several of these birds skimming over a large pond, and found that they were chasing dragonflies or libellulæ, some of which they caught while settled on the weeds, some on the wing. That the cuckoo makes no nest, and that the female deposits her eggs in the nests of other birds is perfectly correct; the nests of the hedgesparrow are usually selected; but those of the yellow hammer, the wagtail, and the titlark, or meadow pipit are not refused. One egg only is deposited in each nest; this is hatched, and the young one is fed by the foster parent, as though one of her own progeny, but to the destruction of her own brood. How this is effected is not quite clear ; it is stated by Dr. Jenner that the young cuckoo contrives to get the nestlings, whose place it usurps, upon its back, which is depressed between the shoulders, and then shuffling back to the edge of the nest, to jerk them over in succession, itself remaining sole occupant. That the offspring of its foster parents are somehow disposed of, seems

others.

The reed-wren, whose nest hung upon the stems of three or four reeds, artfully interlaced together, so as to form a firm though waving support, must not be forgotten. This elegant bird is common on the southern and eastern counties of England, where marshy grounds afford it a congenial asylum; but in the midland and more northern counties it is very rare. The depth of the nest of this species (Salicaria arundinacea, Selby) constitutes its safety; for Montagu says, that he has seen the bird sitting within it, when the wind blew hard, and every gust forced it almost to the surface of the water. The corn crake (Crex pratensis) may now be heard in the rich meadows and fields, especially near the vicinity of water; its harsh notes, crake, crake, suffice to give notice of its presence; but so rapid are its movements among the tall grass, that it is here, and at a distance, before its departure from the spot where you just heard, appears possible. Few birds are so difficult to find, or to pursue; and it requires a well-trained dog to force it from its cover to take to flight. In the southern counties, this bird is comparatively rare; in Cheshire, and Lancashire, and other midland counties, it is, on the contrary, very abundant; as also in Scotland, the Hebrides, the Orkney and Shetland Isles, and in Wales. It is common in Ireland. The winter refuge of this species is southern Europe, and the north of Africa. Their northward, or spring migration, is performed by short stages; but they are often much exhausted on gaining our shores. That birds of short wing, and comparatively feeble powers of flight, should undertake extensive migrations, is very remarkable; yet this is found to be the case, not only with this bird, but with the quail, (which arrives in May,) with the spot

Listen to that loud, monotonous call note, peep, peep, peep; it is the note of the wryneck, (Yunx torquilla,) uttered among the branches of the elm tree. This elegantly coloured bird resembles the woodpecker very closely in its manners; its toes are formed in like manner, being placed two before, and two behind; and by these, the bird clings to the bark of trees, while in quest of ants, which constitute its favourite food. These it takes, by means of a long slender worm-like tongue, capable of being protruded to a great distance, and covered with a glutinous fluid. We have often seen this bird extend its tongue, giving at the same time a peculiar vibratory movement. The wryneck appears a day or two before the cuckoo; it breeds in the holes of trees, and when surprised on the nest, boldly raises up the feathers of its head, hisses like a snake, stretches itself out, and writhes its neck from side to side, from which action it derives its name. In the midland and northern counties, this bird is rare; but common in the south-eastern parts of our island.

There are two subjects connected with ornithology of great interest to the naturalist, who loves to contemplate nature in the fields and woods, rather than in cabinets and museums: one is the nidification of birds, which differs so much in almost every species, as to enable a person practically conversant with this branch of the history of the feathered race, to indicate the bird to which each respectively belongs. The other is the character or mannerism of the flight of birds, each having its own distinguishing mode of aerial progression. Gilbert White says that " a good ornithologist should be able to distinguish birds by their air (manners) as well as by their colours and shape, on the ground, as well as on the wing, and in the bush, as well as in the hand." This facility can only be acquired by practice in the fields and woodlands; and we recommend to our young readers to make notes of every occurrence connected with every species, which they meet with in their rambles; such a practice leads to habits of observation, and nature is worth observing. Describe a nest, how placed, of what constructed, the number and colour of the eggs, the manners and notes of the parent