84. - BIRD OF THE WILDERNESS. BIRD of the wilderness, Blithesome and cumberless,1 Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea! Blest is thy dwelling-place · Oh! to abide in the desert with thee! Wild is thy lay and loud, Far in the downy cloud; Love gives it energy, love gave it birth. Where, on thy dewy wing, Where art thou journeying? Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth. 3 O'er fell and fountain sheen, O'er moor and mountain green, O'er the red streamer that heralds the day; Over the cloudlet dim, Over the rainbow's rim, Musical cherub, soar, singing away! 4 Then, when the gloaming comes, Low in the heather blooms, Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be; Blest is thy dwelling-place: Oh! to abide in the desert with thee! JAMES HOGG. 1 cum'ber-less, free from care. 2 mat'in, morning song. 3 fell, field. 4 gloaming, evening twilight. dis-patched', devoured. mo-rass', swamp, marsh. păr'o-quet [ket], the little parrot of Carolina. 1. ANXIOUS to try the effects of education on one of these birds which I procured at the Big Bone Lick, and which was but slightly wounded in the wing, I fixed up a place for it in the stern of my boat, and presented it with some cockleburs, which it freely fed on in less than an hour after it had been on board. The intermediate time between eating and sleeping was occupied in gnawing the sticks that formed its place of confinement, in order to make a practicable breach, which it repeatedly effected. 2. When I abandoned the river and traveled by land, I wrapped it up closely in a silk handkerchief, tying it tightly around, and carried it in my pocket. When I stopped for refreshment, I unloosened my prisoner and gave it its allowance, which it generally dispatched with great dexterity, unhusking the seeds from the bur in a twinkling; in doing which it always employed its left foot to hold the bur, as did several others that I kept for some time. 3. I began to think that this might be peculiar to the whole tribe, and that they were all, if I may use the expression, left-footed; but by shooting a number afterwards while engaged in eating mulberries, I found sometimes the left and sometimes the right foot stained with the fruit, the other always clean; from which, and the constant practice of those I kept, it appears that, like the human species in the use of their hands, they do not prefer one or the other indiscriminately, but are either left or right footed. 4. The path between Nashville and Natchez is in some places bad beyond description. There are dangerous creeks to swim, miles of morass to struggle through, rendered almost as gloomy as night by a prodigious growth of timber and an underwood of canes and other evergreens; while the descent into these sluggish streams is often ten or fifteen feet perpendicular into a bed of deep clay. In some of the worst of these places, where I had, as it were, to fight my way through, the paroquet frequently escaped from my pocket, obliging me to dismount and pursue it through the worst of the morass before I could regain it. 5. On these occasions I was several times tempted to abandon it, but I persisted in bringing it along. When at night I encamped in the woods, I placed it on the baggage beside me, where it usually sat with great composure, dozing and gazing at the fire till morning. In this manner I carried it upwards of a thousand miles in my pocket, where it was exposed all day to the jolting of the horse, but regularly liberated at meal times and in the evening, at which it always expressed great satisfaction. 6. In passing through the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, the Indians, whenever I stopped to feed, collected around me, men, women, and children, - laughing, and seemingly wonderfully amused with the novelty of my companion. The Chickasaws called it in their language "kelinky," but when they heard me call it Poll, they soon repeated the name; and whenever I chanced to stop amongst these people, we soon became familiar with each other through the medium of Poll. 7. On arriving at Mr. Dunbar's, below Natchez, I procured a cage, and placed it under the piazza, where by its call it soon attracted the passing flocks, such is the attachment they have for each other. Numerous parties frequently alighted on the trees immediately above, keeping up a constant conversation with the prisoner. One of these I wounded slightly in the wing, and the pleasure Poll expressed on meeting with this new companion was really amusing. She crept close up to it as it hung on the side of the cage, chattering to it in a low tone of voice as if sympathizing in its misfortune, scratched about its head and neck with her bill, and both at night nestled as close as possible to each other, sometimes Poll's head being thrust among the plumage of the other. 8. On the death of this companion she appeared restless and inconsolable for several days. On reaching New Or leans I placed a looking-glass beside the place where she usually sat, and the instant she perceived her image all her former fondness seemed to return, so that she could scarcely absent herself from it a moment. It was evident she was completely deceived. Always when evening drew on, and often during the day, she laid her head close to that of the image in the glass, and began to doze with great composure and satisfaction. 9. In this short space she had learned to know her nanie, to answer when called on, to climb up my clothes, sit on my shoulder, and eat from my mouth. I took her with me to sea, determined to persevere in her education; but, destined to another fate, poor Poll, having one morning about daybreak wrought her way through the cage while I was asleep, instantly flew overboard and perished in the Gulf of Mexico. ALEXANDER WILSON. 86. THE PARROT: A True Story. THE deep affections of the breast By human hearts. A parrot, from the Spanish main, Full young and early caged, came o'er, |