there is no period of the year without some of these most lovely displays of the divine power, wisdom, and goodness.

And how great is the difference between the shrubs and trees; between the sensitive plant and the oak; between the bramble and the vine!

Yes, we have reason indeed to exclaim, " O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all! The earth is full of thy riches!"

And between the ostrich and eagle, and the wren and little humming bird which was sent from South America.

Truly so; but the displays of the divine wisdom and goodness are without bounds.-We might watch this rookery here for days, to the high gratification of our curiosity. Hark, how they are all talking together. Talking, Papa! do rooks talk?

I think it is evident that most creatures understand each other; you may call it talking or what you please.

I have seen a large company of rooks in a field, whilst one has been in a lofty tree as a sentinel;

when he has given the alarm, they have all fled away in an opposite direction to the approaching enemy. How is this, if they do not understand his communication ?

It looks as if they did. Don't they do much good by destroying the grubs of insects?

There can be no doubt of it, Edward. They follow the plow with much industry. They have been observed to notice plantain withered by the root having been destroyed by grubs; and, pulling up the plant, they have devoured the depredator.

How is it that they come back every year, and build in the same trees?

I know not, Edward; they seem pleased to do so. It is impossible fully to account for all the habits of birds and animals. They have built in these trees ever since I was a boy.

What a multitude there must be now; there could be only a few then, Papa.

I think they are much increased; still, not so greatly as you would imagine. Many of them are killed every

autumn and winter. Mr. Jesse says, that the rooks, nests in four successive years in the avenue of Hampton-court Park, were about seven hundred and fifty.

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Allowing," says he, "three young birds, and a pair of old ones, to each nest, the number would amount to three thousand seven hundred and fifty." The increase here must have been prodigious. This gentleman mentions a curious fact, of which I have been an eye-witness; "They are very particular," says he, "that none of their society build away from the usual line of trees. A pair of rooks did so in the spring of 1832; and when their nest was nearly finished, at least fifty others came, and demolished it in a few minutes."

Do look up now, Papa; see how they are quarrelling. They are very prone to quarrel; and like young people, and persons of large growth, often about mere trifles, a stick, or a straw.

But do they do no harm, Papa?

No doubt, they do; when the wheat is just springing up, unless they are watched and disturbed, they

will pull up and devour very much of it. In the time of Henry VIII. an act of parliament was past to destroy rooks and crows; every hamlet was to provide nets for ten years.

How do rooks differ from crows?

The principal difference is in the nostrils, and root of the bill; these, in the crow are covered with feachers; but in the rook are bare, or covered only with

a few bristly hairs. This arises from its thrusting its bill into the earth after worms and insects; whilst the crow feeds upon carrion. It is very singular, that the rook should be with us both summer and winter; whilst in France, and other countries, they are birds of passage. Is not the jackdaw in our garden of the same order with the rook?

It is, both are of the order of the Picæ; and so is the Jay, one of the most beautiful of our birds, as to its plumage. Its forehead is white, streaked with black; it has long feathers on its head, which it can raise, as it pleases, into the form of a crest.

whole neck, back, breast, purple, dashed with grey.

The

and belly, are of a faint

Many of the feathers are

of a light bay; and the larger ones are beautifully barred with a lively blue, black, and white.

How I should like to see one.

They are not very numerous, and are shy birds; keeping generally in thick woods and copses. There is a smaller one in America, called the blue Jay. These are often seen in large flocks. Eighteen or