266 WILD SCENES AND SONG-BIRDS. 



into mild and plenteous homes for the freed millions of the 

 Old in a Future, he foresaw until his full heart burst forth 

 in prophetic utterance : 



" That land is like an Eagle, whose young gaze 

 Feeds on the noontide beam, whose golden plume 

 Floats moveless on the storm, and in the blaze 

 Of sunrise gleams when Earth is wrapt in gloom ; 

 An epitaph of glory for the tomb 

 Of murdered Europe may thy fame be made, 

 Great People : as the sands shalt thou become ; 

 Thy growth is swift as morn, when night must fade ; 

 The multitudinous Earth shall sleep beneath thy shade." 



This magnificent image fixes the Apotheosis of the Eagle 

 of our standard, and settles all mooted questions of appropri- 

 ateness, etc., forever, as we conceive !" In spite of all the 

 indignities heaped upon the noble bird by the presumptuous 

 familiarities of Sophomore Eloquence in Fourth-of- July ora- 

 tions, or the fledgling muse of Patriotism in Heroic Odes, it 

 will nevertheless continue to be the proud synonyme and 

 emblem of Liberty ! Street's noble Ode to " The Gray For- 

 est Eagle," is, however, anything but a fledgling! 



The Mexican Eagle is a true carrion bird, as filthy as it is 

 cowardly ; and our southern neighbors may really be con- 

 sidered as having some ground for sensitiveness in regard to 

 the character of their Standard, but we certainly have none. 

 It is hardly magnanimous to insult a fallen foe by instituting 

 a comparison, naturally suggested, between the character of 

 that bird and the people of which it is the National Em- 

 blem ; it is sufficient that for the present it has cowered be- 

 neath the higher flight, the stronger beak, and fiercer daring 

 of our own grand bird ! 



We have this Caracara, or Brazilian Eagle of the Mexican 

 standard, also as a resident of Texas and the Floridas, where 

 it is regarded with the mingled aversion and contempt which 

 all men feel for the vultures. But we have, as an offset to 



