Boy, may the eagle's flight ever be thine,
Onward, and upward, and true to the line."

He is floating down from his native grove;
No loved one now, no nestling nigh;

He is floating down, by himself, to die.
Death darkens his eye, and unplumes his wings;
Yet his sweetest song is the last he sings.
Live so, my love, that when death shall come,
Swanlike and sweet it may waft thee home."

LESSON XXXVI.

THE BIRDS OF HEAVEN.

1. HARK to Nature's lesson, given
By the blessed birds of heaven'!
Every bush and tufted tree

Warbles sweet philosophy:

"Mortal', fly from doubt and sorrow';
God provideth for the morrow.

2. "Say', have kings more wholesome fare
Than we, poor citizens of air'?
Barns nor hoarded grain have we,
Yet we carol merrily.

Mortal', fly from doubt and sorrow;
God provideth for the morrow.

3. "One there lives, who, Lord of all,
Keeps our feathers lest they fall':
Pass we blithely, then, the time,
Fearless of the snare and lime,

Free from doubt and faithless sorrow:
God provideth for the morrow."

LOANE.

BISHOP HEBER.

XXXVII. QUESTIONS TO THE BIRDS, AND THEIR ANSWERS.

1. THE EAGLE.

ART thou the king of birds, proud eagle'? Say'!
"I am'; my talons and my beak bear sway';
A greater king than I if thou wouldst be',
Govern thy tongue, but let thy thoughts be free."

2. VULTURES.

Abominable harpies'!1 spare the dead'!
"We only clear the field which man has spread;
On which should Heaven its hottest vengeance rain`?
You slay the living-we but strip the slain."

3. THE OWL.

Blear-eyed,2 strange-voiced, sharp-beaked, ill-
omened fowl',

What art thou? "What I ought to be-an owl;
But if I'm such a scarecrow3 in your eye,
You're a much greater fright in mine-good-by!"

Swallow', why homeward turned thy joyful "In a far land I heard the voice of Spring;

I found myself that moment on the way;

My wings, my wings, they had not power to stay."

5. THE CANARY.

Dost thou not languish for thy father-
land',

Madeira's fragrant woods and billowy strand' ?5
"My cage is father-land enough for me;
Your parlor all the world-sky, earth, and sea."

6. THE HUMMING-BIRD.

Art thou a bird', or bee', or butterfly'?
"Each, and all three. A bird in shape am I;
A bee, collecting sweets from bloom to bloom;
A butterfly in brilliancy of plume."

Rap, rap-rap, rap-I hear thy knocking bill, Then thy strange outcry, when the woods are still "Thus am I ever laboring for my bread,

And thus give thanks to find my table spread."

Parrot', why hast thou learned by rote to speak Words without meaning through thy uncouth beak'? "Words have I learned'? and without meaning too'? No wonder, sir-for I was taught by you'."

[count'? Who taught thee, Chanticleer, the time to "Learn from my voice Time's worth and its amount. Long before wheels and bells had learned to chime," I told the steps unseen, unheard, of Time."

[town';

Pheasant', forsake the country', come to I'll warrant thee a place beneath the crown. No; not to roost upon the throne, would I Renounce the woods, the mountains, and the sky."

11. THE STORK.

[thee'?

Stork', why were human virtues given to

"That human beings might resemble me:
Kind to my offspring, to my partner true,
And duteous to my parents-what are you?"

12. ROBIN AND SPARROW.

Familiar warbler', wherefore art thou come'?
To sing to thee when all beside are dumb;
Pray let the little children drop a crumb."
Sparrow', the gun is leveled ; quit that wall!
"Without the will of Heaven I can not fall."

1 HÄR'-PIES, plunderers.

2 BLEAR-EYED, dim-sighted.

3 SCARE-CROW, a frightful thing.
4 LAN-GUISH, pine; lose animation.

1. A ROOKERY is a temporary encampment of oceanic1 birds, for the purpose of bringing forth

their young; and they unite in immense numbers, and with great industry, to construct it. When a sufficient number of penguins, albatrosses, etc., are assembled on the shore, they appear to hold a deliberate consultation, and then proceed to the execution of the grand purpose for which they left their favorite element.

2. In the first place, they carefully select a level piece of ground, of suitable extent, and as near the water as practicable, always preferring that which is the least encumbered? with stones and other hard substances, with which it would be dangerous to have their eggs come in contact. As soon

as they are satisfied on this point, they proceed to lay out the plan of their projected3 encampment, which task they commence by tracing a well-defined parallelogram, of sufficient magnitude to accommodate the whole fraternity, and often containing several acres.

3. One side of this encampment runs parallel with the water's edge, and is always left open; the other three sides are differently arranged. These industrious feathered laborers next proceed to clear all the ground within the limits from obstructions of every kind, picking up the stones in their bills, and carefully depositing them outside of the lines, until they sometimes, by this means, create quite a wall on three sides of the rookery.

4. Within this range of stones and rubbish they form a pathway six or eight feet in width, and as smooth as any of the paved or graveled walks in the New York Park or on the Battery. This path is for a general promenade by day, and for the sentinel to patrol by night.

5. Having thus finished their little works of defense on the three land sides, they next lay out the whole encampment in little squares of equal size, forming narrow paths, which cross each other at right angles, and which are also very smooth. At each intersection" of these paths an albatross constructs her nest, while in the centre of each little square is a penguin's nest; so that each albatross is surrounded by four penguins, and each penguin has an albatross for its neighbor in four directions.

6. In this regular manner is the whole space occupied by these feathered sojourners of different species-leaving, at convenient distances, accommodations for some other kinds of oceanic birds, such as the shag, or the green cormorant, and another which the seamen call Nelly. Although the penguin and the albatross are on such intimate terms, and appear to be so affectionately and sincerely attached to each other, they not only form their nests in a very different manner, but the penguin will even rob her friend's nest whenever she has an opportunity.

7. The penguin's nest is merely a slight excavations in the earth, just deep enough to prevent her single egg from roll

H