88 LIVING CREATURES. 



the most ferocious kind, is one which the steamboatmen 

 of the Mississippi River call the gallinipper. Of it they 

 tell strange stories. They describe it as being as large 

 as a goose ; and they gravely declare that it flies about 

 at night with a brick-bat under its wings to sharpen 

 its beak with. 



2O. TO A MOSQUITO. 



FAIR insect! that with thread-like legs spread out, 

 And blood-extracting bill and filmy wing, 



Dost murmur, as thou slowly sail'st about, 

 In pitiless ears full many a plaintive thing, 



And tell how little our large veins would bleed, 



Would we but yield them to thy bitter need. 



Unwillingly, I own, and, what is worse, 

 Full angrily men hearken to thy plaint; 



Thou gettest many a brush, and many a curse, 

 For saying thou art gaunt, and starved, and faint; 



Even the old beggar, while he asks for food, 



Would kill thee, hapless stranger, if he could. 



Beneath the rushes was thy cradle swung, 



And when at length thy gauzy wings grew strong, 



Abroad to gentle airs their folds were flung, 

 Rose in the sky and bore thee soft along ; 



The south wind breathed to waft thee on the way, 



And danced and shone beneath the billowy bay. 



