["A specimen of the rare white-tailed eagle has just been shot
at Bude Haven, Cornwall."--_Daily Paper, Nov. 24._]
Ah! shades of YARRELL, MORRIS, BEWICK, WOOD,
Swoop down from Nephelococcygian eyrie
With legions of bird-phantoms,
Roc-ghosts and spectral bantams,
And venge the Vandal sporting-man's vagary,
Wrought on your race in Cornwall's bay of Bude!
A _Haliaetus_ he's done to death!
Haunt him and harry, ossifrage and osprey!
Hoot, owl! Croak havoc, raven!
He of that wave-beat haven
Should--like the Ancient, of the Albatross--pray
For tardy pardon till his latest breath!
Soon will the Sea-earn join the vanished band
Of Garefowl, AEpyornis, Dodo, Moa!
And e'en the merry mavis
Will rank as _rara avis_--
The sparrow, sole of all that sailed with NOAH,
Will learn the casual pot-shot to withstand!
Why surely, when rare birds are rarer made
By 'ARRY, or by 'ARRIET'S hat-adorner,
These gentry should be tethered
To posts, and tarred and feathered!
To see the balance thus redressed a mourner
Would _not_ be he who has these lines essayed!
* * * * *
[Illustration: A DISCUSSION ON WOMAN'S RIGHTS.
"A--I'VE NO DOUBT YOU'RE QUITE RIGHT IN _THEORY_, LADY HYPATIA. BUT
I'M AFRAID THAT IN PRACTICE THE WORLD AT LARGE WON'T AGREE WITH YOU."
"WON'T IT? THEN IT OUGHTN'T TO _BE_ AT LARGE!"]
* * * * *