ORNITHOLOGIA.

PART THE SECOND.

FOREIGN BIRDS.

ONCE more of the PRINCES of AIR-yet once more,

Ere my harp in the hall to its place I restore.-
Once more shall the WARBLERS be heard, and their soNG
Once more waken Echo the woodlands among.

O for powers that, more worthy the theme of my lute,
Shall an audience insure and attention strike mute.
Might I catch, BARD of ERIN! a note of thy strain,
My song, although humble, shall not be in vain.
Yes, MOORE! to the sounds of thy rapturous Lyre
At distance I listen, but dare not aspire:
O lend me thy mantle, or toss me thy pen;
Or prompt me to sing of the BIRDS of the GLEN.
What delight had pervaded the EAGLE's throng'd
court,

Swiftly bore to the VULTURE the tongue of report: His pride took alarm as on Andes he sate;

He arose, flapp'd his wings, and assum'd much of state. To declare to the empire his wishes august

He delay'd not-thus ran the high will of the Just:

Be it known to all Birds, beneath moon, beneath sun,
That, ere the next hebdomad race shall be run,
The Autocrat, monarch of Andes, the world,
Where vulturid banners have long been unfurl'd,
Apart all excuse and aside laying care,

A day of delight with his people will share.
It was, too, a command that no bird, on that day,
Should dare his rapacity once to display ;
Who, offended in this, in his fulness of might,
The monarch indignant would dash from his sight.

Proclamation being made of the VULTURID's pride, By swift pinion'd report it was borne far and wide; Announc'd, too, through many and distant a clime, The Isle of assembly, and also the Time :

To delight, and to birds, long the Island well known;
There often the Vulture reclines on his throne;
Not the throne of the Andes, but one where the ocean
Can be heard or in wild or in pleasing commotion:
Where a DELL that, uplifting its bold, rocky side,
High, massive, would seem the fierce storm to deride.
His bolts shoot the thunder oft sportively there,
And echo, again and again, awakes fear.

Below, at the base of a mountainous rock,

That hath long stood of earthquakes and tempests the shock,

Rolls ocean, whose waves, as they break on the shore,
Send up through the dell a loud murmuring roar :
As you pass its wild, picturesque windings along,
You will hear many BIRDS both in loud and soft song;

While now dash over rocks, now in eddies soft glide,
The crystalline waters those windings beside.
What though there no Luscinian Sylvia's* sweet throat,
Nor of Cuculid Scansor canorous† the note,
Yet the WARBLERS abound, and, in many a lay,
Their amorous passion are pleas'd to display;
But their plumage will charm you as much as their

airs ;

Delight's gayest daughter-such plumage is theirs.
Embossom'd this DELL in that Isle of the west,
Which Nature herself hath abundantly bless'd.
The whole a wild garden, where plants, shrubs, and
trees,

Grow in richest luxuriance; the evening breeze,

Delighted to fan you, bears odours along,

While the Polyglot Thrusht fills the woods with his

song.

Heat a monarch is there; the rich, tropical fruit
In its splendour stands forth, varied tastes to salute.

Of the BEAUTIES of FLORA which rise in their pride, 'Midst the rocks fertile crannies-the streamlets be

side,

Or in soil rich and deeper adown thrust their root, While their corols of splendour on lofty stalks shoot, Description, how vivid soe'er, becomes faint,

When attempting such tropical glories to paint.

*

Nightingale, Sylvia luscinia.

+ Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus.

The Mocking-bird, Turdus polyglottus.