TYRANT FLYCATCHER. 131 



Far in the south, where vast Maragnon flows, 



And boundless forests unknown wilds enclose ; 



Vine-tangled shores, and suffocating woods, 



Parched up with heat, or drowned with pouring floods ; 



Where each extreme alternately prevails. 



And Nature sad their ravages bewails ; 



Lo ! high in air, above those trackless wastes. 



With Spring's return the King-bird hither hastes; 



Coasts the famed Gulf,* and from his height explores, 



Its thousand streams, its long indented shores, 



Its plains immense, wide opening on the day, 



Its lakes and isles where feathered millions play; 



All tempt not him ; till, gazing from on high, 



Columbia's regions wide below him lie; 



There end his wanderings and his wish to roam, 



There lie his native woods, his fields, his home; 



Down, circling, he descends, from azure heights, 



And on a full-blown sassafras alights. 



Fatigued and silent, for a while he views 

 His old frequented haunts, and shades recluse. 

 Sees brothers, comrades, every hour arrive — 

 Hears, humming round, the tenants of the hive; 

 Love fires his breast, he woos, and soon is blest ; 

 And in the blooming orchard builds his nest. 



Come now, ye cowards ! ye whom Heaven disdains. 

 Who boast the happiest home — the richest plains; 

 On whom, perchance, a wife, an infant's eye 

 Hang as their hope, and on your arm rely ; 

 Yet, when the hour of danger and dismay 

 Comes on that country, sneak in holes away, 

 Shrink from the perils ye were bound to face, 

 And leave those babes and country to disgrace ; 

 Come here (if such we have), ye dastard herd I 

 And kneel in dust before this noble bird. 



When the specked eggs within his nest appear, 

 Then glows affection, ardent and sincere ; 

 No discord sours him when his mate he meets; 

 But each warm heart with mutual kindness beats. 

 For her repast he bears along the lea 

 The bloated gad-fly and the balmy bee ; 

 For her repose scours o'er the adjacent farm. 

 Whence Hawks might dart, or lurking foes alarm ; 

 For now abroad a band of ruffians prey. 

 The Crow, the Cuckoo, and the insidious Jay ; 

 These, in the owner's absence, all destroy, 

 And murder every hope, and every joy. 



Soft sits his brooding mate ; her guardian he, 

 Perched on the top of some tall neighboring tree ; 

 Thence, from the thicket to the concave skies. 

 His watchful eye around unceasing flies. 



* Of Mexico. 



