The Work Of Nature In The Months.

which is just one of those pieces of apparently undesigned evidence of an all-ivise lS well as all-powerful Will permeating and regulating the Avhole course of Nature , which , when it thus incidentally crops out to the surface , stamps all Creation as the of GodThe Hazel

luincliAVOi'k . common or Wood-nut is eagerly devoured by three well-known , because commonly occurring , kinds of animal life—the Squirrel , the Field-mouse , and the Nut-hatch ; but each trets at the kernel in a different way , so

that finding , in the course of our walk , an emp ty nutshell , Ave are quite able to tell the creature that has opened it . Sitting on his haunches and holding the nut in

his forepaAvs , the squirrel rasps off the pointed end , and then splits the shell into two parts , just as a man AVOUM do ivitfi his knife ; the mouse merely drills a hole , so regularly round that it seems impossible that the work can have been clone without

some revolving instrument like a gimlet , and equaUy impossible that the kernel can have been extracted through so small an opening ; whilst the nut-hatch picks an irregularly-shaped ragged hole ivith its beak : and here crops out a remarkable feature in the little creature ' s proceedings

, which , if it be not actuated by reason , seems brought about by a quality very near akin to it ; the quadrupeds have paws Avherewith to hold the nut firm ; not so the bird ; but Nature teaches it to make up for tho deficiency by making an

extemporised vice of the cleft of a tree , crevice in a stone , or chink in some convenient gate-post . Whilst thus occupied the tappiiig _ of the bird ' s bill may be heard at a considerable distance ; this , mingling with other sounds , ancl making up tho Avhole of Nature

' s concert , led good Gilbert White jo propound the query in his "Natural History of Selborne " as to why passages of music , produced either vocally or instruiiiwitall y by human beings , should possess ™ e disagreeable property of continual

I' ^ urrenoe , even at most inopportune "' "os , so as at last to become well-ni gh ^ endurable , whilst the music of Nature ' s ewtr produces no such annoying effects . 'Hte quotes Gassendus in Vitd Peireslcii « Pon the point , and Wood , ivho edits "te , enlarges upon it , mentioning the th . y i ° us repeated sounds , such as c rattling of a railway carriage , resolving

themselves into a species of Aveird music . This latter circumstance is , Ave think , simply a case of memoiy or brain-adaptation , for Ave knoAV a lady , very musical hi instincts aud taste , AVIIO can tell instantl y any ordinary melody when chummed out with the finger-end upon a table . With

regard to the former , the fact mentioned by Gassendus and White seems to us to supply one more link in the chain of evidence of the impassable gulf between Man and the animals . Soul-less Nature may charm , but cannot strike a responsive

chord in soul-moved Man . The Music of Nature is soothing , even to the production of a pensive and holy calm ; that of Man ' s invention is soul-stirring , even to Avarlike deeds of blood . The music of Human moulding is tho stimulantthat of Nature ' s

, forming is the sedative . Both AviU one day be merged into the holy '' ' music of the spheres , " the soul-expected perfection of the Divine

Art" The triumph-song of Heaven . " Cold and crisp though the air may be getting noAA' , Ave shall still find one or two denizens of it fluttering about on their gauzy Avings on the few brief days of sunshine . There are the Clouded-Yellowthe

, Brimstone , and the common Copper , amongst the Butterflies , the caterpillar of Avhich last species may be found on the leaves of the Dock as late as the middle of December . Several Moths may also be observedthe Bed-greenthe Eed-headed

, , , the Autumnal , ancl , of course , the pale greyish-brown November Moth . Amongst our migratory or partially migratory birds is that pretty little , active , dashing HaAvk , the Hobby , ivhich never builds a nest if it can find an old one in

any Avay likely to suit it ; it usually affects the deserted tenements of the CI ' QAV or Magpie . Other tiny friends that come to us IIOAV are the Gold-crest ancl the Firecrest , Avhilst towards the end of the month the beautiful , but rather scarce , Waxwing

or Bohemian Chatterer makes its appearance . This bird has , upon some of the secondary feathers of the wing , a flat , horny , scarlet plate , looking as if made of red sealing-wax , Avhence its name ; the bird possesses , too , a handsome crest , Avhich it can raise or lower at pleasure . We reach the water-side , Avith just