pettier technicalities of language; in the proprieties, no less to be exacted, of rhyme, grammar, accentuation, prosody, and idiom. with others less striking, but equally peccant against the rules of Lindley Murray. mar, do nevertheless possess, particularly on sacred subjects, a certain peculiar air of emphatic and solemn enunciation. Such is the frequent use of what we may call the nominative absolute, a mode of speech which, though not altogether unpractised by the best Greek and Latin authors, may be deemed peculiarly Hebrew, from its very frequent use by the Jewish writers. In Tait and Brady's paraphrase, I have not observed a single instance of this Judaism; in our version, we have a great many; and the sentiment, instead of being impaired by the apparent disjointedness of the words, is rendered certainly more solemn and impressive. As examples, there are, "The Lord he shall the people judge.”—Ps. vii. 8. "The tabernacles of thy grace, How pleasant, Lord, they be."-lxxxiv. 1. "And even my chosen Israel, He would have none of me."-lxxxi. 11. "Those that within the house of God Amid the violations of grammar, however, I am unOf rhymes, there are about fifty-five or sixty, of such willing to class the several imitations of the Hebrew rude and unseemly dissonance, as to be disavowed by all idiom throughout our Psalms, which, though not acknowears of even ordinary susceptibility, in this our well-at-ledged as correct syntax by the writers on English gramtuned generation. They were tolerated, no doubt, by our worthy, unfastidious grandfathers and grandmothers, and are all of them such as good Zacharias Boyd would have been fain, in some of his desperate sinking moods, to upbuoy himself upon; but they are now-a-days too unharmonious to be found even in the pages of our slenderest pedlar-poetaster. For we have not only words of the antique pronunciation; such as, high, thee,-due, bow,me, eye,-lie, ay,—king, reign, &c.; but such as never did, do not now, and never will, chime together; such as, fram'd, ordain'd,—prove, hoof,—goes, rejoice,—says, eyes,-wish, is,-approv'n, own,-tempt'd, sent,-imperfect, (monstrum horrendum!) writ; which are all, even for the eye to look at on paper, most hideously and repulsively jarring. Polysyllabic words, also, of the same monosyllabic termination, are employed so profusely and unhesitatingly, as to impress the reader (an impression which is inevitable) with the unskilfulness or poverty of means of the versifier. We have, for example, the whole multitudinous adverbial family of-ly (as in subtilly, deceitfully); the verbal family of-ed (as in opened, published); the adjective family of-ous (as in gracious, plenteous); the abstract family of-ness (as in righteous-The ness, uprightness); all which words are too near of kin to be married together in the bonds of rhyme. Such alliances are now, by the lawgivers of good metre, very justly proscribed. If they are used at all, the union must be with words at least not consanguineous. But besides these pseudo-rhymes, we have about thirty-five or forty double rhymes; as, anointed, appointed,-abhor me, for me,-forsake me, overtake me, &c.; all which are not only in the reading ungraceful, but in the chanting peculiarly indecorous, bespeaking a subject rather of levity than of solemnity. Such bellowing and repercussive rhymes are now, most judiciously, thrown out of all serious, and are admitted only into light or ludicrous poetry. In this respect, indeed, the version of Tait and Brady may be considered faultless, and ought to be set up as a model to us in the North. One double rhyme, or one vicious rhyme, it will be difficult to discover in it, from beginning to end. As to grammar, the imperfections are nearly as obnoxiously prominent as those in the rhyme. There occur, under that head, upwards of twenty glaring errors, that are obvious even to schoolboys. The perfect-participle, the 2d person singular present, and 2d person singular preterite of the indicative, suffer most excruciation under the hands of the versifier. For instance, "Thou cities raz'd."-Ps. ix. 6. "For from the horns of unicorns An ear to me thou gave."—xxii. 21. "Thou wastes his beauty like a moth."-xxxix. 11. "For thou them favour gave."-xliv. 3. "On thou went."-l. 18. "Thou their number took."-lvi. 8. "And thou the dragon's head, O Lord, Within the waters brake."-lxxiv. 23. "From heav'n thou judgment caus'd be heard." -lxxiv. 8. "Thou was a God that gave."-xcix. 8. Which thou of old forth gave."—cxix. 52. "For thou well understands All my complaint and moan."-cxliii. 6. "Thine hand thou openest liberally, And of thy bounty gives."-cxlv. 10; Are planted by his grace, They shall grow up."-xcii. 13. He slumbers not nor sleeps."-cxxl. 4. idiom, "O who is he will bring me to The city fortify'd!"—Ps. lx. 9. And laws, they did not break."—xcix. 7: As to prosody, accentuation, and idiom, the two latter are sometimes of a growth purely Scottish; of a propensity to the use of which, the versifier, inured as his ears must have been to such sounds and phrases, could not well have divested himself. The falsely-accented words mischief, mischievous, (used repeatedly,) therefore, comfòrters, envy, envious, refùge, &c., sound barbarously in the ears of a polite congregation. Such phrases, also, as the following, bespeak the northern soil from which they sprung: "Froward thou kyth'st Unto the froward wight.”—Ps. xviii. 23. Shall sink."-xxxiii. 9. Acquaint with all my ways.”—cxxxix. 3.* * On the head of idiom, I am not sure but a hypercritical South ron might object to the first line of the 23d Psalm "The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want;" where I'll, contrary to the English idiom, which is I will, is, according to the vulgar usage of Scotland, used for I shall. Certainly the Psalmist means to express his assured conviction thus-" As the Lord is my shepherd, it cannot be that I shall want:" not his determined resolution to do any thing soever, commit wrong or violence, rather than submit to endure want, which is suggested by I'll-I will not want-I am resolved not to want. An orthodox or scrupulous divine may also object to the lines in Psalm cxlv. 20 "The Lord preserves all, more and less, That bear to him a loving heart;" where the words more and less, are generally understood as adverbs qualifying the verb preserve, which conveys a meaning that may be at least disputable; but it is probable that the compiler used them as adjectives in apposition with all, in the sense of greater people, (majores) and less, high and low-a meaning in which these words are repeatedly found, as well in the old English as in the old Scottish versions. Equally irregular and unauthorised is the prosody; to such a degree, that our Scottish precentor must needs have accurate poetical ears to determine the quantities and metrical feet of the lines they are directed to sing. So perplexing and misleading are these irregularities, that the audience are frequently chanting one syllable, when the precentor has either anticipated them, or been anticipated by them with another. Indeed, the grammatical figures, called by the learned Synæresis and Diaresis, are of by far too frequent occurrence. They are met with, not only in separate lines, as, "And over Zion, my holy hill."-Ps. ii. Unto us gracious be."-cxxii. 3. "The idols of the nations, Of silver are, and gold; And by the hands of men is made Their fashion and mould."-cxxxv. 15. "And plenteous redemption."-cxxx. 7; For he remembers we are dust, And he our frame well knows; And it away is gone; And of the place where once it was, It shall no more be known."-ciii. 13. : But it would be endless, as it is unnecessary, to quote all the fine passages; and of the bad, enough have been already quoted or referred to for the object in view the good have been exhibited in connexion with the bad for the purpose of showing by juxtaposition the unseemliness of such an inharmonious union, and that an occasion might be taken of expressing regret that such deformed misproportions have been already so long allowed to afford so justifiable a pretext for disparaging our Scottish psalter. Many of the psalms-those that afford the best and most frequent subjects for church melody, and are, therefore, become most familiar to the minds and the lips of our most aged and worthy kirk-attending people, require the least but they occur, side by side, in a short line of six syl- emendation, so that their prejudices (and in that class lables, as, "Come, let us cut them off, said they, From being a natĭŏn.”—-lxxxiii. 4. And we have also too many instances of that audacious figure, yclept epenthesis, (or the elongation of a word, Procrustes-like, for the sake of the verse,) in commandement, handywork, rememberance; words which have no competent English authority, and ought therefore to be excluded. I do not know whether it be sufficiently ascertained that but one versifier turned all those of our psalms which are not borrowed from the older versions; but they seem of merit so unequal as to induce a suspicion that different hands have been at the work. Many of them are either, in whole or in part, excellently executed; and, considering the difficulty that attends the combination of rhyme with sublimity in that narrow species of couplet to which they are restricted, they may be considered as the finest specimens we have in our language of sublime rhyming-translation. Milton himself, in the few psalms he has attempted to translate, has attained by no means their ease, and hardly their elevation. How elegantly and forcefully compressed into the following fourline couplet, is the sense of these two verses of Psalm xxxvii!" I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree; but he passed away; and, lo! he was gone; I sought him, but he could not be found." "I saw the wicked great in power, With what little alteration upon the words, and what emphatic simplicity, are the sublime third and fourth verses of Psalm xciii. moulded into "The floods, O Lord, have lifted up, The floods have lifted up their waves, Is more of might by far Than noise of many waters is, Or great sea-billows are!" principally would prejudice against a change exist) would be the more easily got over. And in the business of purification, should it, as is hoped, ere long take place, no verse should be touched that is not confessedly in some important respect faulty; moreover, the labours of the emendator might be, in a considerable degree, lightened and abridged by his resorting, as he ought to do, wherever it can well be done, to the ancient versions of Scotland and England, where many passages, having the stamp of energetic antiquity set bright upon them, might be selected and substituted for the objectionable ones to be displaced. And where a rifacimento is imperiously necessary, the language should be carefully studied and moulded so as to appear, if possible, of the same thread and colour with the more antique texture of the work, and combine as much Bible-sublimity and simplicity as is compatible with the cramping restrictions of the metre, so as to avoid, what is the great blemish of Messrs Tait and Brady's production, that paraphrastic and strengthless prolixity into which a versifier, from the present distorted state of the English language, is now most apt to fall. Devongrove, Clackmannanshire, FINE ARTS. THE FOURTH EXHIBITION OF THE SCOTTISH ACADEMY. (Second Notice.) WE proceed to offer some remarks upon that class of our living artists, to whom we are willing to attribute a higher ambition, and more generous notions, respecting the capabilities of their art.† Mr ALLAN. The merits and defects of this artist have been so frequently discussed, that it would only be wasting the reader's time to go over the ground again. His "Jonah" is a fine, though unequal painting. It is There is no apparent necessity for double versions of the same Psalm, even should both versions be good; but when one version is good and the other bad, or indifferent, the inferior one ought to be suppressed. Tait and Brady have no double versions; and in all our double-versioned Psalms, one of them. is generally bad, and seldom or never sung. It might, therefore, be well spared. Of the 124th Psalm, the stanza of the 2d version is very justly gone into desuetude. It is an absurd one, which our versifier has taken from Sternhold: he has borrowed Sternhold's first distich, which accents truly on the second syllable; he has endeavoured to remould the other stanzas for himself, but has forgotten, or not at all known, the And but once more-how sweetly-solemn and tender order of rhymes to which the first stanza necessarily subjected him. are the verses, "Such pity as a father hath Unto his children dear, Like pity shows the Lord to such As worship him in fear; † Accidents will happen in the best regulated families; and this is the only reason we can give for passing over in silence, last Saturday, when talking of the portraits, the very pleasing and ladylike portraits of Mr Francis Grant. The truth is, we do not much like the display of marching round the room with a catalogue in one hand and a pencil in the other, jotting down our luminous conceptions as they arise; and as we therefore write from memory alone, we may occasionally pass by in silence what we should wish to notice. scarcely such a subject as suits Allan's peculiar powers. But who has forgotten the "Circassian Slaves," or the "Death of the Regent Murray ?" and remembering them, who but must acknowledge their author to be a painter of great talent, and yet greater knowledge? cially inculcate on Mr Dyce, that a painter should form his theory of colour upon his own feelings-not upon abstract doctrines respecting the nature of light inferred from experiments. He is liable, no doubt, to be misled from any peculiar conformation of his own eye, but this liability he can never counteract from another's teaching. All experiments, moreover, are fallacious; they give us not free and living nature, but a body stretched upon the rack. We have entered into this expostulation with Mr Dyce because we know that he labours hard and consci ter short by telling him that his style was not likely to be popular, but this is an argument which we believe him to be above listening to. Besides, his pictures are pos.. sessed of beauties which even those least accustomed to his style may appreciate. The fine carnation in the Young Hercules, the gorgeous colouring of the snakes, and the expression of forcibly tearing them asunder, must be felt by all. The breathing slumberous look in his "Golden Age," and the fine piece of landscape in the distance, are in like manner obvious excellencies. Neither can the strength and richness in the colouring of his "Flora" escape observation. What we chiefly desiderate in this artist's works, is passion. Mr GRAHAM. This gentleman has studied at Rome, and with no inconsiderable success. He has a good notion of the beauties of form and colour, and considerable skill in the management of light and shade. His manipulation is that of a man who knows what he is about; and the characteristic of his paintings is probably sweet-entiously in his vocation. We might have cut the matness, rather than power. They who know any thing of the art will be aware, that though we do not use any hyperbolical language, we thus rate Mr Graham's abilities and acquirements high; and we bear him this testimony with pleasure. But we regret to be obliged to add, that we do not think he has of late been turning his talents to that purpose he might do. He seems originally to have formed his style of colouring too servilely upon that of the old Italian masters; and when he was necessitated, in painting portraits, to approach nearer to the colour of our northern nature, there was at first a chalkiness and rawness in his carnations-as in his Sir Walter Scott exhibited last year, In this respect he now succeeds better;-his portrait of Mrs Boyle is very pleasing. But we think he is still deficient in seizing the character of his sitters; as in his portrait of Mrs Maxwell of Terraughty. Sometimes, too, his conceptions seem (what we should not have expected from him) rather vulgar; as, for example, in his❘ portrait of a Lady in a Grecian costume. It is but fair, however, to notice, that he has two portraits of Children in this Exhibition, (Nos, 66 and 271,) done in a style peculiar to himself, and extremely pleasing. It is his fancy pieces that we feel most inclined to challenge. His Lady and Butterfly," and his "Lady looking at a Drawing," are mere repetitions of his "Love-Letter," and its companion, which he exhibited last year. dislike this style of painting ;-it is essentially hollow and meretricious--calculated to catch the eye by the effect of exaggerated lights and transparent shadows. A man of Mr Graham's talents should trust to solid good painting-to form, expression, and arrangement. If he compare the two pictures we are speaking of with their prototypes of last year, his own good sense will tell him that he is wasting his time with unsubstantial trickery, and depraving his taste by the practice. We know that he has hit the town between wind and water by these means, but a popularity so earned cannot last-and though it could, it is an ambition unworthy of him. 66 We We take Mr LEES next to Dyce and Graham, as having studied in the same school. We are not sure but he is superior to both in native feeling, and in conception, although he is still behind them in the power of expression. There is a great deal of impressive dignity in the bearing of his Milton. The daughter, with her face towards the spectator, seemingly rapt in the " numerous verse" flowing with majestic harmony from the lips of ' the blind old bard, is likewise very fine. And there is something in the rich yet quiet tone of the landscape behind, which harmonizes adınirably with the subject. Mr Lees' other works are all respectable, but we do not think that he has come up in any of them to the excellence of the picture we have just mentioned. His "Music” (281) is too much like some of Graham's works, and, what is worse, too much like some which are not exactly Graham's happiest efforts. Mr LAUDER. We regret that there is no work by this artist in the Exhibition calculated to give a correct estimate of his powers. His "Portrait of a Lady" (221) shows him to possess a fine eye for colours, and a just conception of the manner of heightening their effect by judicious arrangement. His "Sentinels" (157) show his mastery in light and shade; and, for its style of execution, indicating in the painter a complete practical Mr DYCE is another of our Romans. He has form- knowledge of his art, we do not hesitate to write down ed his style still more decidedly upon the old Italian mas- this picture the best in the Exhibition. But still he ters than Mr Graham-too decidedly, in our opinion; has no work which proves with what care he has cultibut Mr Dyce, we know, acts upon principle and reflec- vated his taste for the high and classical style of art. Mr tion, and where a man does this, his opinions are always Lauder has sought to mature natural talents of the very deserving of respect. Mr Dyce's view of the subject (as | highest order, by a really scientific study of his profesfar as we can infer it from his own works) seems to be, sion; and we have no doubt, that when Italy has once that all attempts to imitate accurately the effects of light laid open her rich stores to a mind so capable of feeling upon the surface of external bodies, ought to be sacrificed, their ennobling influence, he will justify us in the eyes in a great measure, to the object of bringing together of those who, not knowing him, may think us rash in masses of local colour, placed in decided contrast. The designating him, upon the strength of what he has already whites, he thinks, and carnations, ought to be always done, the artist of most promise among us. We rated very much toned down; and in selecting his colours, he him last week for laziness; and when we consider that he does not guide himself so much by the effect the objects has only two pictures in the Exhibition, (the catalogue he intends to represent produce upon his own eye, as by says four, but, though we might allow another artist to what experiment persuades him they ought to produce. reckon the two we have passed over, we cannot allow These seem to be the ground principles of Mr Dyce's him,) we shall not say that we repent of what we have theory of colouring. Now, we are aware that the prac- done. He will tell us, in all probability, that it does not tice of some of the greatest Italian masters seems to counfollow he has been idle because we see no results; and we tenance this. We are farther aware, that there is a know that he is too much enamoured of his art not to be simplicity and severity about this style of colouring which constantly occupied with it; but this is not enough. He harmonizes admirably with grand subjects. But we works for the public, and the public have a right to see think it is misplaced in such subjects as Mr Dyce has that he does work. hitherto been painting; and we know that many of the early painters adopted it, not from preference, but because they knew of no other. We would, besides, espe We suspect our friend DUNCAN will be not a little surprised at finding us class him along with these theorists. We know that he believes himself to be a rank naturalist, and laughs at the notion of ideal beauty and scientific painting. But, from what we know of Mr Duncan's studies, and from what we see in his paintings, we shrewdly suspect that he is working under the influence of principles, which are not yet sufficiently developed within him to have become subject to his consciousness. The ideal forms of antique sculpture which he has been so assiduously studying, have imprest a feeling of the beautiful in his fancy, which he has unconsciously communicated to the creatures of his own pencil. We cannot better illustrate what we mean, than by instituting a comparison between Duncan's "Braw Wooer," and Harvey's highly meritorious picture, "The Cameronians." This lastmentioned work is evidently the fruit of severe and continued study. There is much variety and power in the expressions of the different countenances, and great energy in the whole picture; but there is a want of knowledge of the human figure, and a want of harmony-the rugged asperity of nature being unsubdued by the feeling of art. The subject of Duncan's picture is neither so elevating, nor does it admit of such varied interest-and yet the effect it produces is infinitely higher, and more lasting. To what is this to be attributed?-to Duncan's preliminary studies, which have at once taught him more correct drawing, and cultivated his feeling of the beautiful. Duncan's greatest merit at present lies in his colouring. His carnations are occasionally too pinky or chalky (as witness the face of his Wooer); but all his other colours are good. There is a pleasure in looking at his "Portrait of a Lady," were it but for the colour alone. There is a great deal of richness in his "Jeanie Deans;" and an exquisite beauty in the look of the child's eyes in No. 114, glancing out from the shadow of its ringlets. Where Mr D. most requires improvement, is in his carnations and chiaroscuro. covered by Mr David Douglas among the Rocky Moun tains. The specimens were exhibited on the table. Mr Wilson observed in general, that birds of this genus are of a hardy constitution, and patient of extreme cold. They only occur in northern or temperate countries, and have not yet been discovered in Africa, in the eastern parts of Asia, or in South America. The special localities which they affect vary according to the different kinds; and even the haunts of the same species admit of variation according to circumstances. The Wood Grouse-such as the Capercailzie (Tetrao urogallus)-prefers forests of pine; the Red Grouse (T. Scoticus) restricts itself to the sides of sloping mountains and moors, careless of more shelter than is afforded by the heath, or other alpine plants of yet more lowly growth, or even by the natural roughness of the ground. The ha bits of the Black-cock are intermediate between those of the species just alluded to. Ptarmigans seem to prefer comparatively temperate climates. The restriction of the common Grouse (T. Scoticus) to the two islands of Great Britain and Ireland, is a familiar though a singular fact in the geographical distribution of birds. The first and most remarkable of the specimens to which it was Mr Wilson's more immediate object to direct the attention of the Society, was the Tetrao Urophasianus, or Pheasant-tailed Grouse, the largest of the American species of this genus, and, excepting the Capercailzie, the largest to be met with in any country. This bird seems to have been first observed by Lewis and Clarke, by whom it is mentioned under the name of Cock of the Plains; and a notice of it was published, some time ago, in the Zoological Journal, by Chas. Lucien Bonaparte, who obtained an imperfect specimen of the male in London. The length of this bird (when full grown) is 32 inches; its girth, 22; its weight from 6 to 8 lbs. The female is considerably less than the male. Her plumage closely resembles his, except that she wants the lengthened filamentous feathers on each side of the neck, and differs slightly in the colour of chin, cheeks, throat, and breast. The flight of these birds is slow and unsteady. Their wings are feeble and proportionably small; their progress through the air is effected by a fluttering motion, rather than a direct continuous flight. When raised, their voice resembles that of the common pheasant. They build on the ground, beneath the shade of Purshia and Artemisia, or near streams among Phalaris Arundinacea. The nest is carelessly constructed of grass and twigs; the eggs (from 13 to 17 in number) are about the size of those of a common fowl, of a wood-brown colour, irregularly blotched with chocolate-brown at the larger end. The period of incubation is about three weeks, and the young leave the nest a few hours after they are hatched. In the summer and autumn months, these birds are to be found in small troops; in spring and winter, in flocks of several hundreds. They We have now gone over those of our artists whom we never perch; indeed, within their range, not a bush larger regard, from the insight they have attained into their pro- than a broom or common whin is to be found. Their food fession, and from their practical skill, as men to whom it consists chiefly of the buds, leaves, and fruit of Purshia has been intrusted to raise yet higher the state of art tridentata, Artemisia, the seeds of Cactus, brown and black among us. There are many meritorious artists,-many, ants, and sand-bugs. Their flesh is dark-coloured, and not perhaps, whom we may ere long be entitled to class along particularly well flavoured. They are plentiful throughout with those we have just mentioned, although, from their the plains of the Columbia River, and in the interior of North Carolina; but have never been seen east of the Rocky restricting themselves to a subordinate style of art, we Mountains. The next species, in size and importance, is must as yet hold them as belonging to a lower rank. We Richardson's Grouse (T. Richardsonii,) so called in honour shall always be ready to do justice to their merits; but of the distinguished traveller of that name. There is a rewe must look to the gentlemen we have enumerated as markable difference, in this species, between the plumage of those who are to fix the character of the Edinburgh school the male and female. The weight of these birds varies of painting. We conceive them all, though differing in from 2 to 3 lbs. Their voice is a continuation of distinct their styles and opinions, capable of working in conform-hollow sounds, like the cooing of a dove. They build their ity to the same high principles. We have to regret that the absence of any works of THOMSON Of Duddingstone, and of WILLIAM SIMPSON, renders it impossible for us to show how their department is susceptible of being cultivated in an elevated spirit. The former stands high, from his solid and scientific painting, his poetry, and his power of impressing a moral feeling into his landscapes. The latter is unrivalled for his skill in representing the beautiful, and managing picturesque effects. Wanting them, the landscape department is this year comparatively poor. nests of small twigs, leaves, or grass, amid coppices of birch or hazel, in the vicinity of springs or mountain rills. They lay from 13 to 19 eggs, nearly as large as those of the do [Our Third Notice of the Ancient Paintings is unavoidably postponed. In the last Notice, for " Mantigna,” read Mantegna, pas-mestic fowl, marked with red specks. Their flight is swift, sim.] steady, and peculiarly graceful. When startled, they drop from the branches of the pine-trees, their usual roosting-place, to within a few feet of the ground, before they commence fly ́ing-a circumstance which often deceives the hunter. This trait seems peculiar to the species. In spring, they are seen in great numbers, basking in the sun, on the southern declivities of low hills; and in winter, in flocks of sixty or eighty, in the vicinity of springs, lakes, or large streams. They are easily destroyed, continuing to sit with apparent tranquillity after several shots have been fired. Their flesh is white and excellent. They feed on the buds of the pine, the catkins of birch, alder, and hazel, and the fruit of the Fragaria and Vaccinium. They are very abundant in the sub-alpine regions of the Rocky Mountains, in lat. 52 deg. N., long, 115 deg. W., and still more numerous in the rocky districts of the Columbia, in lat. 48 deg. N., long. 118 deg. W. They are rare on the mountains of the N. W. coast. The third species exhibited was named the smaller Pheasant-tailed Grouse (T. Urophasianellus.) The sexes resemble each other closely in colour, but the male is rather larger than the female, and his tail more fully developed. Their prevailing colour is pale brown, richly blotched and barred with black. The wing coverts, and the outer webs of the primary wing feathers, are marked with many rounded or oblong spots of a pale colour. Their flight is swift. noiseless, and steady. They are shy, and not easily approached by the sportsman. They are found in the same range of country with the larger species first described, with which they associate, and which they resemble much in their habits. The number of their eggs varies from 12 to 15, in size not much exceeding those of a pigeon, and in colour, of a light ash.-The fourth species has been named, in honour of Mr Sabine, Tetrao Sabini. The plumage is rich and varied, and presents those singular appendages or shoulder knots, so conspicuous in the wood-partridge of the United States and Canada (Tetrao Umbellus.) The colours in the plumage of the female are greyer, and less richly toned -in other respects, the sexes do not much differ. The weight of an individual bird is two pounds. Their voice is a continuation of measured sounds, not unlike the ticking of a large clock. Their flight is rapid, and consists of a quick clapping of the wings, and then of a sudden shooting forwards, without any perceptible motion of the individual parts. They feed on the buds of Pinus, Fragaria, Rubus, Corylus, Alnus, and the berries of Vaccinium. They pair in March, and build upon the ground, in coppices of Corylus, Amelanchier, and Pteris, and on the outskirts of Pine forests. Their nests are composed of the slender fronds of Pteris, dry leaves, and grass. Their eggs are of a dingy white, with red spots, and vary in number from 9 to 11. They are remarkable for attachment to their young. The Tetrao Sabini is a rare bird. During spring, it is found in small flocks, rarely exceeding eight or twelve; at other seasons, it seldom happens that more than three or four are seen together. Like the Tetrao Umbellus, which it resembles in the prevailing character of its plumage, it is in the habit of perching upon the stumps of decayed trees, in the darkest parts of the forests, and there performing the singular operation called drumming; which is effected by giving two or three loud distinct claps with its wings, followed by many others, which become quicker and quicker, until the noise appears to die away in the distance, like the sound of a muffled drum. This beautiful species was discovered by Mr Douglas, in the woody parts of the N. W. coast of America, between the parallels of lat. 40 deg. and 49 deg.-The fifth and last species exhibited, is called, in honour of the distinguished commander of the over-land Arctic Expedition, Tetrao Franklinü. Mr Wilson has as yet seen only the male. The general plumage is dark and glossy, composed of alternate bars of black and greyish brown. The head, neck, and breast, are almost black; the tail is entirely black. The upper and under tail coverts are black, terminated by a large white spot; and the lateral parts of the abdomen are likewise spotted with white. It runs with great speed over shattered rocks and among brush wood, and only uses its wings as a last effort to escape. When raised, its flight is similar to that of the last-mentioned species. Its alarm note is composed of two or three hollow sounds, ending in a disagreeable grating noise, like the latter part of the cry of the Guinea fowl. Like other birds of the same genus, it builds on the ground, not unfrequently at the foot of decayed stumps, or by the side of fallen timber, in the mountain woods. Its nest is composed of dead leaves and grass, and contains from five to seven eggs, of a dingy white colour, not larger than those of our wood pigeon. It is said to be one of the most common birds in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, from lat. 50 deg. to 54 deg. N., near the sources of the Columbia. It probably inhabits still higher latitudes. Mr Wilson remarked, in conclusion: "I have little doubt that some of these birds might be imported into this country, of which the soil, climate, and natural productions, are not so dissimilar to those of their native regions, as to preclude the hope of a successful issue to an experiment of a very interesting nature, which the wealth and zeal for field sports, inherited by many of our aristocracy, would render easy, and which might eventually prove of more permanent and substantial advantage. Their importation would certainly form a fine addition to the feathered game of Great Britain." A communication, "On the Mustard Plant mentioned in the Gospels," was next read by the Rev. Dr Scot; and afterwards a letter from Dr John Scouler, of the Andersonian Institution in Glasgow, containing an "Account of some Fossil Remains found near Kilmarnock." ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. Monday, 22d February. Professor RUSSELL in the Chair. Present, Drs Hibbert, Maclagan, Carson; James Skene, Donald Gregory, Gordon, &c. &c. Esqrs. A number of donations were exhibited, after which there was read "An Essay on the Remarkable Coincidences between the Traditions of the Ancient Britons and certain Passages in the Hebrew Prophets; also a subsequent letter on the same subject, addressed to the Curator, by the Rev. W. J. D. Waddelove of Bacon Grange." No remarks were offered on this communication by any member, and the Society adjourned. ORIGINAL POETRY. STANZAS. By Thomas Tod Stoddart. I LOVE thee, ladye, as the wind Loves whispering to the sea; As the bright earth loves her sister-moon, So, ladye, I love thee! A holier light than gathers o'er And there are images of love I know full well the twin of mirth That joy will blend with sorrow, like And I have seen when, dream-like, came Into those beautiful bright eyes, But flowers, they look the fairer, in The pearly dew-drop steeping; And the purest of our smiles are bathed Under a shower of weeping. Than all the smiles and flattery Of the adoring knee, A welcome from thy loveliness Is dearer far to me. Yet breathe not what thou know'st alone,- On the altar of this heart, which will Even as the solitary wind Loves whispering to the se As the bright earth loves her sister-moon, So, ladye, I love thee! |