Tlir, SIIKEIiWMKR. 533 



SofkrsI llio\i tlip plnsliy hriiil: 

 Of woody Inkc, or iiiargo ot'rivor wido, 

 Or uluTc tlic rocking' Iiillows rise and sink 

 On tilt' clmt'i'd oci'aii-sidi' ? 

 There is a Power wliose pare 

 Teaclies tliy way along that pathless eoast, 

 'I'he desert and illimitable air, — . 



Louc wandering, but not lost. 

 All day thy wings have fanned, 

 At that far height, the eold thin atmosphere, 

 Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, 

 Thongh the dark night is near. 

 And soon that toil shall end, 

 Soon shalt thou find a summer-home, and rest 

 And scream among thy fellows ; reeds shall bond 

 Soon o"er thy sheltered nest. 

 Thou'rt gone — the abyss of heaven 

 Ilath swallowed up thy form : yet on my heart 

 ])ceply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given. 

 And shall not soon depart. 

 He who, from zone to zone. 

 Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight. 

 In the long way thii.t I must tread alone, 

 AVill lead my steps aright." 



THE SHEERW\TER, OR IU,ACK SKni:MKR.* 



The bill of this bii'd has so extraordinary a shape, that, at first sight, it appears as if it 

 were worn and imperfect. BufFon, to whoso hasty condemnations wo have had occasion 

 to allude, says, in consequence: "This bird, named Bec-en-ciseaii.r (Scissor-bill), can 

 neither bite on the side of the bill nor pick up anything before it, nor peck forwards, its 

 bill being composed of two excessively unequal pieces ; the lower mandible, which is 



IIKAD 01' THE SHEERWATER. 



elongated and projecting beyond all proportion, much exceeds the upper mandible, which 

 only falls upon it like a razor on its haft. In order to reach anything and seize it with 

 so defective an organ, the bird is reduced to skim the surface of the sea as it flies, and to 

 plough it with the lower part of the bill plimged in the water, so as to catch the fish 

 below and lift it as the bird passes. It is from this inaiihjc, or rather from this necessary 

 and painfiJ exercise, the only one which could enable it to live, that the bird has received 

 the name of Conpeur d'cau (Cut-water) from some observers, whilst the name of scissor-biU 

 has been intended to point out the manner in which the two unequal mandibles of its bill 

 fall one upon the other ; of these, the lower, hollowed into a gutter with two elevated 

 trenchant edges, receives the upper, which is fashioned like a blade." 



Now of all this the structure is absolutely the reverse. Catesby, therefore, justly 

 speaks of it as "a wonderful work of Xaturc," and thus accurately describes it: — "The 



• PJiynchops. — I.ir.n. 



