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"Hark!" said Arthur, " there is the owl." "Oh, what a melancholy sound!" said Maria. Melancholy, Cousin Maria!" exclaimed Charles. "I don't believe there's a merrier bird than the owl."

"Hear the poet," said Mr. Gray:

"Save when, from yonder ivy-mantled tower,

The moping owl doth to the moon complain
Of such as, wandering near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.'"

He owned, however, that he agreed with Charles, and thought the owl anything but a melancholy bird. Emily and little Augusta confessed that they did not much like to hear the owl hooting after they were in bed; they thought it a dismal kind of noise. Mrs. Gray said she had the same weakness, but she believed it was caused by some silly stories she had heard when she was a child. Adelaide thought the owl would make a famous pet, with his solemn looks by day, and his merry shouting by night. She listened with interest to the history the boys gave of the owl in the wood, and how they had gone to the spot a few evenings before, and watched the old birds carry in mouse after mouse, and fly off again. They were then sure some young owlets were at home; and when the old birds flew away, Charles put on a stout glove, and searched in the hole, and brought out first one young owl, and then, after a good deal of biting and scratching, he caught hold of another; but he could find

no more, nor any egg. When they had looked at the nestlings-and very ugly they were-Charles put them back again; and had just got down from the tree, when the old owl returned with more food, and flew into her hole, where she would, no doubt, discover that there had been a visitor.

Mr. Leslie offered his arm to Mrs. Gray, and they all strolled through the garden walks to the house, enjoying the scent of honeysuckles and other fragrant flowers which gave out their odours to the evening air. The dor-beetle buzzed past them, and the bats flew in wide circuits, chasing the moths and night-flying insects.

They separated early, lest they should weary the invalid, who was so tenderly cared for by them all; but before they parted, a boat excursion was planned for the next evening; Mr. and Mrs. Gray undertaking the guidance of the young party, and Charles promising to take his cousins to the most flowery margins of the stream.

THE WOOD-OWL.

A RIGHT Cozy home in the woodland glade
The nest of the bonny brown owl must be,
And the hole in the tree, that time hath made,
Seems just fit for his feather'd family.

With his mantle of brown and large round eyes

He sitteth and blinketh the whole day through, When the curtain of twilight descends on the skies He hunteth his prey through the night-falling dew.

I have seen him oft in the stilly night,

When all else seems buried in slumber deep, Hoot! hoot! he cries, 'tis a pleasant sight

To look on the world when the world's asleep.

Hoot! hoot! he cries to his wife in the tree-
I'll just catch my supper and back again,
And tell you the pleasant sights that I see,
And you can turn out for the hunting then.
Hoot! hoot! shouteth he to his lady wife,

Here's enough and to spare for me and for you;
Hoot! hoot! bonny Madge, the joy of my life;
And she merrily answers his loud Too-whoo.
Securely he rests 'mid the turmoils of day,

To midnight and moonlight his pleasures belong. He loveth the shade of the woodlands, and they Ring back with loud echoes the notes of his song. Safe lie his brood from the gamekeeper's scowl, His nest undiscover'd by bird-nesting boy. Long life to my bird, the bonny brown owl, Long may the woodland resound with his joy.

Calendar for June.

BIRDS.

Broods of the Great Titmouse, or Ox-eyel Take flight from

Young broods of pheasants and partridges are hatched.— Towards the end of the month the song of the nightingale ceases, and that of the red-start.-The warble of the chaffinch and the middle willow-wren is heard no more.- -The cuckoo becomes silent.-The thrush and the blackbird still sing delightfully. The lower notes of the yellow-hammer, goldfinch, and gold-crested wren are also heard.

Silvery Moth (Plusia gamma)

Meadow Brown Butterfly (Hipparchia Janira)

do.

do.

Marbled White Butterfly (Arge Galatea)

do.

Comma Butterfly (Vanessa C. album)

do.

Small tortoiseshell do. (Vanessa Urtica)

do.

WILD PLANTS.

Brook-lime (Veronica Beccabunga)

Great Wild Valerian (Valeriana officinalis)
Common Feather Grass (Stipa pennata)

Meadow Barley (Hordeum pratense)

Sea ditto (H. maritimum)

Wild Dog-wood (Cornus sanguinea)
Sea Kale (Crambe maritima)
Bladder Campion (Silene inflata)

Flowers.

do.

do.

do.

do.

do.

do.

do.

Cow-parsnip (Heracleum Sphondylium)

Saintfoin (Onobrychis sativa)

do.

do.

Common Honeysuckle (Lonicera Periclymenum)

Great Water Scorpion-grass (Myosotis palustris) .

Field do. (M. arvensis)

Common Ladies' Mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris)
Common Hound's-tongue (Cynoglossum officinale)

do.

do.

do.

do.

do.

Buck-bean, or Bog-bean (Menyanthes trifoliata)

Woody Nightshade (Solanum Dulcamara).
Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans)

Dog Rose (Rosa canina,) and many others.

do.

Corn Cockle (Agrostemma Githago)

do.

Ragged Robin (Lychnis Flos-cuculi).

do.

Common Red Poppy (Papaver Rhaas,) and others.

do.

Dwarf Cistus (Cistus Helianthemum).

do.

Greater Broomrape (Orobanche major)

do.