cxxx LIFE OF WILSON. 



finement. In his domesticated state, when he commences his career of" song, 

 it is impossible to stand by uninterested. He whistles for the dog : Caesar 

 starts up, wags his tail, and runs to meet his master. He squeaks out like a 

 hurt chicken, and the hen hurries about with hanging wings, and bristled 

 feathers, clucking to protect her injured brood. He runs over the quiverings 

 of the Canary, and the clear whistlings of the Virginia Nightingale or Red- 

 bird, with such superior execution and effect, that the mortified songsters feel 

 their own inferiority, and become altogether silent; while he seems to triumph 

 in their defeat by redoubling his exertions. 



" This excessive fondness for variety, however, in the opinion of some, 

 injures his song. His elevated imitations of the Brown Thrush are frequently 

 interrupted by the crowing of cocks ; and the warblings of the Blue-bird, 

 which he exquisitely manages, are mingled with the screaming of Swallows, 

 or the cackling of hens ; amidst the simple melody of the Robin we are sud- 

 denly surprised by the shrill reiterations of the Whip-poor-will, while the notes 

 of the Killdeer, Blue Jay, Martin, Baltimore, and twenty others, succeed, with 

 such imposing reality, that we look round for the originals, and discover, with 

 astonishment, that the sole performer in this singular concert is the admirable 

 bird now before us. During this exhibition of his powers, he spreads his 

 wings, expands his tail, and throws himself around the cage in all the ecstasy 

 of enthusiasm, seeming not only to sing, but to dance, keeping time to the 

 measure of his own music. Both in his native and domesticated state, during 

 the solemn stillness of night, as soon as the moon rises in silent majesty, he 

 begins his delightful solo; and serenades us with a full display of his vocal 

 powers, making the whole neighborhood ring with his inimitable medley." 



I will give but one example more of our author's descriptive powers, and 

 that will be found in his history of the Bald Eagle. As a specimen of nervous 

 writing, it is excellent; in its imagery, it is unsurpassed; and in the accuracy 

 of its detail, it transcends all praise. 



" This distinguished bird, as he is the most beautiful of his tribe in this 

 part of the world, and the adopted emblem of our countr}^, is entitled to par- 

 ticular notice. He has been long known to naturalists, being common to both 

 continents, and occasionally met with from a very high northern latitude, to the 

 borders of the torrid zone, but chiefly in the vicinity of the sea, and along 

 the shores and cliffs of our lakes and large rivers. Formed by nature for 

 braving the severest cold ; feeding equally on the produce of the sea, and of 

 the land; possessing powers of flight capable of outstripping even the tempests 

 themselves; unawed by anything but man; and from the ethereal heights to 

 which he soars, looking abroad, at one glance, on an immeasurable expanse of 

 forests, fields, lakes, and ocean, deep below him; he appears indifferent to the 

 little localities of change of seasons ; as in a few minutes he can pass from 

 summer to winter, from the lower to the higher regions of the atmosphere, the 

 abode of eternal cold; and thence descend at will to the torrid or the arctic 

 regions of the earth. He is therefore found at all seasons in the countries 

 which he inhabits ; but prefers such places as have been mentioned above, 

 from the great partiality he has for fish. 



" In procuring these, he displays, in a very singular manner, the genius and 



