SOUTH AMERICA. 
251 
native haunts, he has been enabled to purge their fourth 
history of numberless absurdities, which inexpe- J0UB -— 
rienced theorists had introduced into it. It is a 
pleasing and a brilliant work. We have no de¬ 
scription of birds in any European publication that 
can come up to this. By perusing u Wilson’s Orni¬ 
thology” attentively before I left England, I knew 
where to look for the birds, and immediately recog¬ 
nised them in their native land. 
Since his time, I fear that the white-headed eagles wwte- 
liave been much thinned. I was perpetually look- Eagles, 
ing out for them, but saw very few. One or two 
came now and then, and soared in lofty flight over 
the falls of Niagara. The Americans are proud 
of this bird in effigy, and their hearts rejoice when 
its banner is unfurled. Could they not then be 
persuaded to protect the white-headed eagle, and 
allow it to glide in safety over its own native forests ? 
Were I an American, I should think I had com¬ 
mitted a kind of sacrilege in killing the white-headed 
eagle. The Ibis was held sacred by the Egyptians; 
the Hollanders protect the stork; the vulture sits 
unmolested on the top of the houses in the city of 
Angustura; and Robin-red-breast, for his charity, 
is cherished by the English :— 
“ No burial these pretty babes 
Of any man receives, 
Till Robin-red-breast painfully 
Did cover them with leaves.”* 
Poor Wilson was smote by the hand of death, 
before he had finished his work. Prince Charles 
* The fault against grammar is lost in the beauty of the idea. 
