266 
WILD SCENES AND SONG-BIEDS. 
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 
