Scotland to the Land's-end in a single day. The nightingale, and some other birds of passage, which fly much less swiftly, can easily reach the south of Europe or the north of Africa within a few days from the time of quitting their English quarters.

An able writer on "The Habits of Birds"*, mentions some curious circumstances illustrative of the constancy with which they sometimes (migratory birds especially) resort, year after year, to the same building and breeding places.

"The continuance of a nest in the same spot for several years is more remarkable in the case of nigratory birds, than in the case of birds that do not migrate, and seldom go to any considerable distance from their breeding trees. There has been, in a garden adjacent to ours, the nest of a blackcap for a succession of years; and broods have been successively reared there. Yet this bird, which is little bigger than a wren, weighing only half an ounce, has to traverse annually the whole of the south of Europe, and probably a great proportion of the north of Africa, exposed of course to numerous accidents, as well as to occasional scarcity of its appropriate food. From the regular annual restoration, however, of this nest at the same spot, it is obvious that one, if not both, of the blackcaps must have been wont to perform this extensive migration to and from Africa as safely as the more hardy cuckoo or the more swift-winged swallow."

During the spring of 1831 the blackcaps, thus supposed to return every year to the same place for nest-building, were more than commonly late in arriving; and when they did arrive their attention was immediately attracted by the unusual circumstance of the loud song of a rival resounding in the vicinity of their premises. The song proceeded from a blackcap, which had been recently purchased, and whose cage, for the sake of fresh air and sunshine, was daily hung out near the place usually occupied by the nest of the passenger birds, who on their part did not apparently at all like the little stranger; and who, by their various demonstrations of curiosity, fear, anger, and defiance, clearly showed that they regarded the spot in question as theirs by prescriptive right. By degrees, however, the quarrel between the free birds and the tenant of the cage subsided into a semi-hostile attempt to ousting each other; and eventually the migratory blackcaps proved that, in point of temper, the advantage lay with themselves. After the lapse of about a week, the male wild bird became gradually less eager to pry into the cage, or to take any other notice of the caged bird, devoting himself wholly to the paying of proper attention to his mate, and to aiding her in the construction of their nest. They forsook the old building-place; but the spot to which they removed was within hearing distance of their antagonist's voice; and it was observed that, while the imprisoned songster continued to do his utmost to overpower the other's notes, the free denizen of the air was evidently quite devoid of any feelings of rivalry, and sang with no other purpose than that of pleasing his mate and himself.

While, however, those birds which affect a warm climate leave our shores during the autumnal * Vide "Habits of Birds," in "The Library of Entertaining Knowledge."

months to take up their temporary abode in more southern latitudes, there are others which, during the same season, come to pay us a winter visit.

On the subject of the migration of birds, the rev. Gilbert White has some curious observations. According to his opinion, "the imbecility of birds" is not the only cause which leads them to shun the rigour of winter; and in support of this opinion he remarks that "the robust wryneck" (so much resembling the hardy race of woodpeckers) migrates, while "the feeble little goldencrested wren, that shadow of a bird," braves our severest frosts without availing itself of the shelter offered by houses or by other buildings, to which most of our winter birds betake themselves in hard seasons, and "keeps aloof in fields and woods." "Perhaps," however, as the same acute observer adds, "this may be the reason why they (the golden-crested wren) often perish, and why they are almost as rare as any bird we know." In addition to their perception of the mutual advantages which they secure by taking their long flights in flocks, there is good reason to believe that, in assembling themselves before undertaking their more important migrations, and in uniting together in numbers on various occasions, birds are actuated by a social spirit, by a genuine love of society. It is a real pleasure to them"With kindred and clan to mingle the strain,

They love by the birds of their race to abide,
When they come to their forest-haunts again
To build their warm nests by the green hill-side.
When the stormy winds unroof their retreat

And wither the wreaths of their summer bowers,
Then afar in the valley the wanderers meet,

And in concert beguile the sad wintry hours." We have already alluded to the important ends answered in the economy of nature by certain birds which feed in a great measure on the seeds of plants, which might otherwise increase to an injurious extent. No less serviceable to the husbandman are the numerous birds which depend for their sustenance chiefly on insects.

Bingley mentions a pair of small birds, supposed to be of the house-wren species, which were observed, during their breeding season, to leave their nest and return with insects from forty to sixty times in an hour, being thus occupied during the greater part of the day. A single pair of such birds would destroy at least six hundred insects in twelve hours.

The destruction of insectivorous birds has in some instances been productive of serious injury. Wilson, the ornithologist, states that, a reward having been offered in Delaware for the destruction of crows and rooks, and multitudes of those birds having been consequently killed, the increase of insects was so great that the state was induced to offer a counter-reward for the protection of the crows.

"From its sometimes eating grain and other seeds, the rook," observes a well-known writer*, has erroneously been viewed in the light of an enemy by most husbandmen; and in several districts attempts have been made either to banish it, or to extirpate the breed. But wherever this measure has been carried into effect the most serious injury to the corn and other crops has invariably followed, from the unchecked devastations of the grub and caterpillar."

* Selby.

An eminent naturalist has observed of swallows, | that, while they are perfectly inoffensive in our gardens, the beneficial services which they perform for us by clearing the air of countless insects are quite incalculable. "Without their friendly aid the atmosphere we live in would scarcely be habitable by man. They feed entirely on insects; which, if not kept under by their means, would torment us like another Egyptian plague"*. "The pleasant hum of insects" is, however, one of the delights of an English summer.

"Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum

To him who muses through the woods at noon, Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclined." So sings the poet Thomson; and the same "ceaseless bum" has often been commented upon in sober prose.

"There is," says White, of Selborne, many of whose descriptions of natural phenomena, although characterized by the utmost simplicity of language, have much in them which addresses itself to the imagination-"there is an occurrence to be met with in the highest part of our downs on a hot summer-day, which always greatly amuses me, although without any satisfaction as to the cause of it, and that is, a loud audible humming in the air, though not an insect is to be seen. Any one might suppose that a large swarm was in motion from some neighbouring hive; nay, that they were even playing over his head."

The cause of the circumstance thus described by Gilbert White is, perhaps, easily explained. In hot weather insects are generally observed to soar high; and hence the pleasant hum produced by numbers may reach the ear, although the gleesome little creatures producing it are not within the range of sight.

The May-beetle still "wheels his droning flight;" and, according to Linnæus, if he be observed to fly in the early morning, his appearance indicates a fine day.

The hum of the honey-bee is peculiarly agreeable; perhaps, as suggesting the idea of cheerful and useful labour. When the busy worker alights upon a flower, her hum ceases; but is resumed again as she flies off with her booty. The most sonorous of insect-hums belongs, perhaps, to the large humble-bee; whose booming, audible at a considerable distance, becomes sharp and shrill as the insect approaches the listener's ear.

Even the trumpet of the gnat, although suggestive of a poignant sting, is pleasant when heard in an insect chorus at noon or even-tide, when the joyous creatures, glittering in the summer air, meet together for merry pastime. Whole troops, however, of stingless insects may be observed, especially towards sunset, during the present month. "These ephemeræ, distinguished by their spotted wings, assemble in multitudes for their evening gambols, often near streams or ponds, or in the neighbourhood of hedges or low trees. Now they rapidly beat the air with their wings till they attain to an elevation of four or five feet, and then descend again with their wings motionless and expanded. Like other creatures of God, these tiny insects are curiously made; and their organization is admirably adapted to the restless lives they are designed to lead. If you look carefully at them * Vide "Habits of Birds," in "Library of Entertaining Knowledge,"

as they float up and down, you will observe that they uniformly elevate their three long tails, and that the two lateral ones are so separated as to form nearly a right angle with the central one. These tails seem given to them to balance their little bodies when they descend in a horizontal position. So agile are their movements and so wonderful their instinct that, should a heavy shower suddenly fall, they are enabled to steer unharmed between drops larger than their bodies, and which, if come in contact with, would dash them to the ground."

....

Some of these ephemera often exhibit a brilliant appearance. Seen in the shade, they seem like a cloud of "dark shadowy atoms," alternately rising and falling in shapes the most fantastic; but, when viewed in the bright sunshine, the spectator might almost fancy that its beams were showering down myriads of glorious crea

tures

"That in the colours of the rainbow live."

Some look like little dancing pearls, others ap pear to be clad in bright armour; some glitter in green and gold, others reflect other prismatic hues, and others again sparkle like emeralds or diamonds.

These and other bright and beautiful insects, which make their first appearance in March or April, and continue to people the air so long as the beams of the sun have sufficient power to cherish and invigorate them, are peculiarly numerous during the month of August. It has been remarked that "the passions of fear or anger, joy or sorrow, eagerness or surprise, which produce exclamations among ourselves, occasionally elicit from insects certain sounds expressive of their feelings." "Angry chidings," observes a writer in a popular periodical, "are occasionally heard among flowers. Take, for instance, the indignant tones of a humble-bee, when lying upon his back on some couch formed of rose-petals. If any one presume to hold a finger towards the little being, he kicks and scolds with all his might." It may be observed, too, that hive-bees, though the most cheerful as well as the most industrious of insects, will produce, when irritated, a shrill and peevish sound; and will follow from field to field, with persevering hostility, the person who offends them.

Bees, as we have mentioned, cease to hum while actually employed in collecting honey; but the numerous family of hawk-moths, as well as some other kindred tribes, continue their glad hum while rifling, each with its long and graceful proboscis, the fragrant flower-cups which furnish them with their spoil.

Butterflies are still abundant. The small white garden butterfly (Pontia Rapa), of which there are several broods during the spring, summer, and autumn, now frequent the margins of ponds and other moist places. It is especially remarkable that butterflies of this species seem, when gathered together under these circumstances, to be almost entirely divested of the pugnacious character which they scarcely ever fail to display when they meet their congeners on the wing. When encountering each other in the air, these insects would often appear to be mutually engaged in a war of extermination; but the grassy edge of a pool or a

served his own generation, he was now drawing near to the close of his mortal life. Feeling, as might naturally be supposed in so affectionate a parent, an ardent love for his son and successor, and well knowing the snares and temptations, the difficulties and dangers attendant upon a crown, this excellent prince was desirous of giving his beloved Solomon such counsel and advice as

A Sermon*,

BY THE REV. H. J. STEVENSON, M.A., .

Vicar of Grimley-cum-Hallow, Hon. Canon of Wor

with credit to himself and advantage to his subjects the various and important duties of the high office to which he would shortly be advanced.

Worcester.

IF circumstances can give weight to advice, and deepen the impression which it is cal culated to make on the hearer, unquestionably the character, authority, knowledge, and experience of the speaker are eminently calculated to produce a most powerful effect. The counsel and instruction of a beloved parent or near relative, who has enjoyed long and large experience of the world, whose talents and virtues have procured for him general respect and admiration, and who has well-nigh completed his allotted race upon earth-the counsel and instructions of such a one can scarcely fail to excite the attention, impress the mind, and in some measure secure the obedience of the young and inexperienced.

Such was the situation of the monarch of Israel, who delivered the advice recorded in my text. He had been elevated from a low rank in society to a throne: he had long been tried in the furnace of affliction; and in his private character, if we except the matter of Uriah, he was eminently virtuous and pious. By his zeal in supporting the religious institutions of his country he had deserved the appellation of "the man after God's own heart;" and in his civil capacity he had raised his kingdom to the summit of glory and opulence, and proved himself to be, in the truest sense of the word, "the friend and father of his people." Having faithfully

Preached in the parish church of St. John's,

Blackburn, on Suuday, June 13, 1852, in aid of the Day and Sunday-schools attached to the district, containing 1,400 infants and adults.

unto Jerusalem, the capital of his kingdom; and in their presence, together with other suitable directions and advice, he gives him this solemn charge: "And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but, if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.*"

Although originally intended for the benefit of king Solomon, these admonitions may be profitably addressed to every human being, in whatever station of life he may be placed, or at whatever stage of his earthly existence he may have arrived; for young and old, rich and poor are equally commanded to "know and serve" the God of all the earth.

Let me, then, beseeching the help of God, I. Inquire into the meaning and import of the text, and

II. Deduce a practical application, with a special reference to the claims of that institution for whose benefit we are this day assembled in the temple of the Lord.

I. The object, then, of belief and worship to which David directs the attention of Solomon, is, "the God of his father." By this phrase is meant Jehovah, the Maker, Preserver, and Governor of heaven and earth, the only true and living God, in opposition to the false gods of the heathen, idols of silver and gold, of wood and stone, which vain men, ignorant of the true God, had formed with their own hands, and before which they fell down and worshipped."' Even the people of Israel, to whom Jehovah had in some degree revealed the excellencies and perfections of his nature, and on whom he had bestowed such manifold benefits, even they were too apt to fall into idolatry. Foolishly adopting the heathenish customs of

* See Scott in loco, and Matthew Henry.

Excellent as was this advice, and powerful as were the motives by which it was enforced, Solomon did not invariably follow it. For we read in Kings xi. that, "when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father."

What is implied, then, in the phrase, "know thou the God of thy Father"? By this expression we are to understand an acquaintance with the nature and glorious perfections of Jehovah, together with a conduct and conversation corresponding with this knowledge. "Know him," that is, endeavour to obtain right and clear apprehensions of his "nature and attributes, and, consequently, of the duties which thou owest him. Nor let that portion of knowledge which thou shalt acquire rest in thy understanding; but let it descend into thy heart, and influence all thy thoughts, words, and actions. Fear God, love him, worship him, keep his commandments, and carefully imitate his moral perfections."

That the word "know" in the text is to be understood in this comprehensive sense, is, I think, evident from many other passages of scripture in which it occurs. Thus, when the Jewish prophets describe the character and conduct of certain disobedient Jews, they say: "There arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel:""Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial: they knew not the Lord:" "They have not known me: they are wise to do evil; but to do good they have no knowledge:" "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich

Indeed the scriptures scarcely ever speak of knowledge as a purely intellectual endowment. "When knowledge entereth into thine heart;" "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness"-these and similar expressions imply that, in scriptural language, the knowledge of the truth includes the cordial approbation and love of the truth. Just as the Lord's "knowing the way of the righteous" implies his approbation of that way, so man's knowing the way of righteousness means approving it and choosing it. Most true is the remark that "knowledge and faith are in order to practice. We neither know nor believe to any good purpose, unless our knowledge and faith influence our conduct, and make us truly better men."

David then proceeds: "And serve him." Although this expression may chiefly relate to religious worship, yet it need not be restricted to that sense. A man serves an earthly Master when he consults his will, listens respectfully to his orders, and performs cheerfully and faithfully all his lawful commands; not murmuring nor "answering again." In like manner the servant of the Lord carefully searches the scriptures, in order to make himself acquainted with what he requires him to do, and strenuously labours, in dependence on divine grace, to fulfil all his will, and observe all his precepts. Having learned "how he ought to walk and to please God," he strives to "abound more and more," to do all things to the glory of God, and to secure his favour and approbation. To God the Christian should be devoted, heart and mind, body and soul; given up altogether to God's service. For it is added: "with a perfect heart and with a willing mind." The word "perfect" signifies sincere, honest. It has the same meaning in other passages. Thus God said to Abraham : "Walk before me, and be thou perfect;" that is, sincere and upright in thy obedience to my commands. So, likewise, Job is termed perfect, i. e., a sound, sterling, real character. This precept is of the same import as that of Joshua to the Israelites: "Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth." Not grudgingly and reluctantly, but willingly and with a ready mind; for God