marshes and by forests, it is there they prepare to descend: they wait till night, making long evolutions over the woods. Soon as the vapours of the eve enshroud the valley, with outstretched neck and whirring wing, they suddenly alight on the waters, which resound with their noise. A general cry, succeeded by profound silence, rises from all the marshes. Guided by a faint light, which, perhaps, gleams through the narrow window of a tower, the travellers approach its walls, favoured by the reeds and by the darkness. There, clapping their wings and screaming at intervals amid the murmur of the winds and of the rain, they salute the habitation of man. Among these travellers from the north, there are some who habituate themselves to our manners, and refuse to return to their native land: some, like the companions of Ulysses, are captivated by the delicious sweets of certain fruits. Most of them, however, leave us after a residence of some months: they are attached to the winds and the storms, which tarnish the polish of the waves, and deliver to them that prey which would escape them in transparent waters; they love none but unknown retreats, and make the circuit of the globe by a round of solitudes. It is not always in troops that these birds visit our habitations. Sometimes two beauteous strangers, white as snow, arrive with the frosts; they descend in the midst of a heath, on an open place, where it is impossible to approach them without being perceived; after resting a few hours, they again soar above the clouds. You hasten to the spot from which they departed, and find nothing but a few feathers, the only marks of their passage, already dispersed by the wind. Concordances with the scenes of nature, or reasons of utility to man, determine the different migrations of animals. The birds that appear in the months of storms have dismal voices and savage manners, like the season which brings them; they come not to be heard but to listen; there is something in the dull roaring of the woods that charms their ears. The trees, which mournfully wave their leafless summits, bear only black legions, which have associated for the winter; they have their sentinels and their advanced guards: frequently a crow, who has seen a hundred winters, the ancient sybil of the deserts, who has survived several generations, remains singly perched on an oak which has grown old with her; there, while all her sisters maintain a profound silence, motionless, and, as it were, full of thought, she delivers prophetic monosyllables, from time to time, to the winds. It is very remarkable that the teal, the duck, the goose, the woodcock, the plover, the lapwing, which serve us for food, all arrive when the earth is bare; while, on the contrary, the foreign birds by which we are visited in the season of fruits, administer only to our pleasures; they are musicians sent to heighten the delights of our banquets. We must, however, except a few, such as the quail and the wood-pigeon, the season for taking which does not commence till after the harvest, and which fatten on our corn, that they may afterwards supply our tables. Thus, the birds of winter are the manna of the rude northern blasts, as the nightingales are the gift of the zephyrs; let the wind blow from whatever point of the horizon it will, it is sure to bring us a present from Providence.Chateaubriand. BIRDS. BIRDS, the free tenants of land, air, and ocean, Thick without burthen, close as fishes' scales, And harsh, yet in accordance with the waves Their hardy broods to forage in all weathers; Herbs, seeds, and roots: or, ever on the wing, Could hear such concert, and not join in chorus ? Montgomery's Pelican Island. COCOA-NUT AND TREE. ONE of the most bountiful provisions made by the Creator for the inhabitants of the torrid zone, is certainly the cocoa-nut tree; and no where is it found in greater abundance or perfection than in India. It grows in a stately column, from thirty to fifty feet in height, crowned by waving branches, covered by long spiral leaves; under this foliage, bunches of blossoms, clusters of green fruit, and others arrived at maturity, appear in mingled beauty. The trunk furnishes beams and rafters for our habitations; and the leaves, when plaited together, make excellent thatch, common umbrellas, coarse mats for the floor, and brooms. The covering of the young fruit is extremely curious, resembling a piece of thick cloth; it expands after the fruit has burst through its enclosure; and then appears of a coarser texture. The nuts contain a delicious milk, and kernels sweet as the almond; these, when dried, afford abundance of oil; and, when that is expressed, the remains feed cattle and poultry, and make good manure. The shell of the nut furnishes cups and other domestic utensils, while the husk which encloses it, is of the greatest use: it is manufactured into ropes and cordage of every kind, from the smallest twine to the largest cable, which are far more durable than those of hemp. In the Nicobar Islands, the natives build their vessels, make their sails and cordage, supply them with provisions and necessaries, and provide a cargo of arrack, vinegar, oil, coarse sugar, cocoa-nuts, cordage, black paint, and several inferior articles, for foreign markets, entirely from this tree.-Recent Travels. OUR COUNTRY AND OUR HOME. THERE is a land, of every land the pride There is a spot of earth supremely blest, DOMESTIC ARTS. In the earlier ages of antiquity, it was not inconsistent with the highest dignity to act in what would now be accounted the meanest of menial employments. Among the ancient Egyptians, the women were occupied abroad in trade, merchandize, and agriculture; and descending to periods less remote, we find that in Lesser Asia, where it would seem women were far from being so much neglected as in many other parts of the world, even those of the first quality were not ashamed to perform the office of a washerwoman; and a similar practice afterwards prevailed in Greece. In the heroic ages, the Grecian wives and daughters, of whatever quality, were not brought up to idleness. Penelope, queen of the famous Ulysses, is so frequently introduced by Homer at her loom, that almost every one has heard the story of Penelope's web. The famous Helen, while confined by the besiegers of Troy, employed herself in [an extraordinary piece of embroidery, which represented most of the battles fought between the Greeks and the Trojans; and Andromache, when she heard of the death of Hector, embroidered a representation of that tragical scene, and adorned it with flowers. |