The Bald Eagle.

THIS distinguished bird, as he is the most beautiful of his tribe, in this part of the world, and the adopted emblem of our country, is entitled to particular notice. He has been long known to naturalists, being common to both continents; and occasionally met with from a very high northern latitude, to the borders of the torrid zone, but chiefly in the vicinity of the sea, and along the shores and cliffs of our lakes and large rivers.

Formed by nature for braving the severest cold; feeding equally on the produce of the sea, and of the land; possessing powers of flight,-capable of outstripping even the tempests themselves; unawed by anything but man, and, from the ethereal heights to which he soars, looking abroad at one glance, on an immeasurable expanse of forests, fields, lakes and ocean, deep below him; he appears indifferent to the little localities of change of seasons; as in a few minutes he can pass from summer to winter, from the lower to the higher regions of the atmosphere, the abode of eternal cold, and thence descend at will to the torrid or the arctic regions of the earth. He is therefore found at all seasons in the countries he inhabits; but prefers such places as have been mentioned above, from the great partiality he has for fish.

In procuring these he displays, in a very singular manner, the genius and energy of his character, which is fierce, contemplative, daring, and tyrannical; attributes not exerted but on particular occasions; but when put forth, overpowering all opposition. Elevated on a high dead limb of some gigantic tree, that commands a wide view of the neighbouring shore and ocean, he seems calmly to contemplate the motions of the various feathered tribes that pursue their busy avocations below; the snow white gulls slowly winnowing the air; the busy

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THE BALD EAGLE.

Yunge, coursing along the sands; trains of Ducks, streaming over the surface; silent and watchful Cranes, intent and wading; clamorous Crows; and all the winged multitudes that subsist by the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of nature. High over all these, hovers one, whose action instantly arrests all his attention. By his wide curvature of wing, and sudden suspension in air, he knows him to be the Fish-Hawk, settling over some devoted victim of the deep.

His eye kindles at the sight, and balancing himself, with half-opened wings, on the branch, he watches the result. Down, rapid as an arrow from heaven, descends the distant object of his attention, the roar of its wings reaching the ear as it disappears in the deep, making the surges foam around. At this moment the eager looks of the Eagle are all ardour; and levelling his neck for flight, he sees the Fish-Hawk once more emerge struggling with his prey, and mounting in the air with screams of exultation.

This is the signal for our hero, who, launching into the air, instantly gives chase, soon gains on the Fish-Hawk, each exerts his utmost to mount above the other, displaying in these rencounters the most elegant and sublime aerial evolutions. The unincumbered Eagle rapidly advances, and is just on the point of reaching his opponent, when with a sudden scream, probably of despair and honest execration, the latter drops his fish; the Eagle poising himself for a moment, as if to take a more certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it in his grasp ere he reaches the water, and bears his ill-gotten booty silently away to the woods.

WILSON'S AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY.

ONE is much less sensible to cold on a bright day than on a cloudy one: thus the sunshine of cheerfulness and hope will lighten every trouble.

Jerusalem.

THE following paragraph suggested the lines below it. "A severe Earthquake is said to have taken place at Jerusalem, which has destroyed a great part of that City, shaken down the mosque of Omar, and reduced the Holy Sepulchre to ruins from top to bottom."

FOUR lamps were burning o'er two mighty graves,
Godfrey's and Baldwin's-Salem's christian Kings-
And holy light glanc'd from Helena's naves,

Fed with the incense which the Pilgrim brings-
While through the pannell'd roof, the Cedar flings
Its sainted arms o'er choir and roof and dome,
And every porphyry-pillar'd cloister rings
To every kneeler there its "welcome home,"

As every lip breathes out, " O Lord thy kingdom come."

A mosque was garnished with its crescent moons,
And a clear voice call'd Musselmans to prayer.
There were the splendours of Judea's thrones-
There were the trophies which its conquerors wear-
All but the truth, the holy truth, was there:

For there, with lip profane the crier stood,

And him from the tall minaret you might hear
Singing to all whose steps had thither trod,
That verse misunderstood, "There is no God but God.”

Hark! did the Pilgrim tremble as he kneel'd!
And did the turban'd Turk his sins confess!

Those mighty hands, the elements that wield,
That mighty power, that knows to curse or bless,
Is over all; and in whatever dress

His suppliants crowd around him. He can see
Their heart, in city or in wilderness,

And probe its core, and make its blindness see
That He is very God, the only Deity.

There was an Earthquake oncé, that rent thy fane,
Proud Julian; when, (against the prophecy

Of Him who liv'd, and died, and rose again,
"That one stone on another should not lie,”)
Thou woulds't rebuild that Jewish Masonry
To mock the eternal word—the earth below

Gush'd out in fire-and from the brazen sky,
And from the boiling seas such wrath did flow,
As saw not Shinar's plain, nor Babel's overthrow.

Another Earthquake comes. Dome, roof and wall
Tremble; and headlong to the grassy bank
And in the muddied stream the fragments fall,

While the rent chasm spread its jaws, and drank
At one huge draught, the sediment, which sank

In Salem's drained goblet. Mighty Power,

Thou, whom we all should worship, praise and thank,

Where was thy mercy in that awful hour,

When hell mov'd from beneath, and thine own Heaven did lower.

Say, Pilate's Palace ;-say, proud Herod's towers-
Say, gate of Bethlehem, did your arches quake?
Thy Pool Bethesda, was it fill'd with showers?
Calm Gihon, did the jar thy waters wake?
Tomb of thee, Mary-Virgin-did it shake?
Glow'd thy bought field, Aceldama, with blood?

Where were the shudderings Calvary might make?
Did sainted Mount Moriah send a flood,

To wash away the spot where once a God had stood?

JERUSALEM.

Lost Salem of the Jews-great sepulchre,
Of all profane and of all holy things,
Where Jew, and Turk, and Gentile, yet concur
To make thee what thou art!

With the sad truth which He has prophesied,

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Who would have sheltered with his holy wings
Thee and thy children. You his power defied;
You scourg'd Him while he liv'd, and mock'd Him as He died.

There is a Star in the untroubled sky,

That caught the first light which its Maker made

It led the hymn of other orbs on high,

"Twill shine when all the fires of Heaven shall fade.

Pilgrims at Salem's porch, be that your aid!

For it has kept its watch on Palestine!

Look to its holy light, nor be dismay'd,

Though broken is each consecrated shrine,

Though crush'd and ruin'd all-which men have called

divine.

BRAINARD.

IN our journey through life, we come upon a fountain of holy delight, and the stream from it we follow, day by day, and year after year. And perhaps then it vanishes, and leaves us to walk a dry and dusty and unlovely path. But that sweet stream

-is it lost in the salt sea of sorrow, along with the river of ambition, and the muddy torrents of the world? O no! it has not ended in the salt sea of sorrow, nor ever reached it. It has disAnd so, appeared with perhaps the heat of the day in summer. not into the sea of hopeless sorrow but into the sky it has gone: and if we are watchful it will hold for us there the rainbow of heavenly promise.

THORPE.