Gentlemen fishing in a wild part of Scotland.) 499 two P. WHAT is that large bird soaring above the pointed rock, towards the end of the lake? Surely it is an eagle! H. You are right; it is an eagle, and of a rare and peculiar_species-the grey or silver eagle, a noble bird! From the size of the animal it must be the female, and her nest is in that high rock. I dare say the male is not far off. P. I think I see another bird of a smaller size, perched on the rock below, which is similar in form. H. You do it is the consort of that beautiful and powerful bird; and I have no doubt their young ones are near at hand. P. Look at the bird! How she dashes into the water, falling like a rock, and raising a column of spray she has dropped from a great height. And now she rises again into the air. What an extraordinary sight! H. She is pursuing her prey, and is one of our fraternity, a catcher of fish. She has missed her aim this time, and has soared further down towards the river, to fall again from a great height. There!-you see her rise with a fish in her talons! P. She gives an interest to the scene which I hardly expected. Pray are there many eagles in this country? H. Of this species I have seen but these two, and I believe the young ones migrate as soon as they can provide for themselves; for this solitary bird requires a large space to move and feed in, and does not allow its offspring to partake its reign, or live near it. Of other species of the eagle, there are some in different parts of the mountains, particularly of the Osprey and of the great Fishing or Brown Eagle. I once saw a very fine and interesting sight above one of the crags of Ben Weevis, near Strathgarve, as I was going on the 20th of August in pursuit of black game. Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring, two young birds, the manœuvres of flight. They began by rising from the top of a mountain, in the eye of the sun; it was about mid-day, and hot for this climate. They at first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them. They paused on their wings, waiting till their young ones had made their first flight, and then took a second and larger circle, always rising towards the sun. The young ones still slowly followed, apparently flying better as they mounted, and they continued this sublime kind of exercise till they became mere points in the air, and the young ones were lost, and afterwards their parents, to our aching sight. The Same. SIGNS OF THE WEATHER. P. I HOPE we shall have another good day to-morrow, for the clouds are red in the west. H. I have no doubt of it, for the red has a tint of purple. I have generally observed a coppery or yellow sunset to foretel rain: but, as a sign of wet weather approaching, nothing is more certain than a halo or circle round the moon, which is nothing more than a watery cloud: and the larger the circle, the nearer the cloud, and consequently the more ready to fall. P. I have often observed the old proverb to be cor rect. "A rainbow in the morning, is the shepherd's warning, A rainbow at night, is the shepherd's delight." Can you explain this omen? H. A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing the rain are opposite to the sun, and in the evening the rainbow is in the east, and in the morning in the west; and as our heavy rains in this climate are Signs of the Weather. 501 usually brought by the westerly wind, a rainbow in the west indicates that bad weather is on the road, by the wind, to us; whereas the rainbow in the east proves that the rain in these clouds is passing from us. P. I have often observed that when the swallows fly high, fine weather is to be expected or continued; but when they fly low and close to the ground, rain is almost surely approaching. Can you account for this? H. Swallows follow the flies and gnats; and flies and gnats usually delight in warm air; and as warm air is lighter, and usually moister, than cold air, when the warm air is high there is less chance of moisture being thrown down by it from the mixture with the cold air; but when the warm and moist air is close to the surface, it is almost certain, that as the cold air flows down into it, a fall of rain will take place. P. I have often seen sea-gulls assemble on the land, and have almost always observed that very stormy and rainy weather was approaching. I conceive that these animals, sensible of a current of air approaching from the ocean, retire to the land to shelter themselves from the storm. H. No such thing. The storm is their element, and the little petrel enjoys the heaviest gale, because, living on the smaller sea insects, he is sure to find his food in the spray of a heavy wave, and you may see him flitting on the edge of the highest surge. I believe that the reason of this migration of sea-gulls and other seabirds to the land, is their security of finding food. They may be observed, at this time, feeding greedily on the earth-worms driven out of the ground by severe floods; and the fish on which they prey in fine weather in the sea, leave the surface when storms prevail, and go deeper. The search after food is the principal cause why animals change their places. For instance, in spring it is always unlucky* to see single magpies ; * Unfavourable as to weather, and therefore unlucky to the fisherman. Not unlucky in the superstitious sense in which some foolish people take it. but two may always be considered a favourable omen; and the reason is, that in cold and stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the nest in search of food, the other remaining sitting on the eggs or the young ones; but when two go out together, the weather is warm and mild, and thus favorable for fishing. The Same. ACTION OF IRON UPON LEAD. To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. MR. EDITOR, I HAVE been looking into Dr. Paris's Life of Sir Humphrey Davy, and am much struck with his observations, (I think in Chapter xii. or xiii., 4th edition,) on the effects of iron upon lead by the action of spring water, and the injurious consequences supposed to have resulted in one instance from an iron pump in a leaden cistern, and in the other, from an iron rod, or bar, I think, in a reservoir. It strikes me (as an ignorant person) that a few words on this subject in your " Visitor," might be the means of preventing much mischief. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, Z. THE EFFECTS OF DRUNKENNESS. DRUNKENNESS expels reason-drowns the memorydistempers the body-defaces beauty-diminishes strength-inflames the blood-causes internal, external, and incurable wounds-is a witch to the senses, a devil to the soul, a thief to the purse,-the beggar's companion, the wife's woe, and children's sorrow. It makes a strong man weak, and a wise man a fool. He is worse than a beast, and is a self-murderer, who drinks to others' good health, and robs himself of his own. He is worse than a beast, for no animal will de The Effects of Drunkenness. 503 signedly intoxicate itself. By the effects of liquor his evil passions and tempers are freed from restraint; and while in a state of intoxication he commits actions which, when sober, he would have shuddered only to have thought of. Many an evil deed has been done, many a MURDER has been committed, when those who did these things were intoxicated; scarcely an assize passes without some unhappy prisoner attempting to excuse his guilt by the plea that he was under the influence of liquor. This excuse the law allows not, and most justly; for if men voluntarily deprive themselves of their reason, surely they cannot be innocent of whatever evils they commit while in that state. Tremble then, O Drunkard! reflect before you put the cup to your lips remember that you are about to make : self ready to commit every crime to which an evil nature, no longer checked, can incite you, and that you may awake from this state, guilty of offences against the laws of your country, sufficient to draw down just vengeance upon your head; and while suffering the punishment of your evil deeds, or reflecting on the harm done, perhaps to your best friend, what consolation can the remembrance of your worse than beastly enjoyment give you? All the crimes on the earth do not destroy so many of the HUMAN RACE, nor make away with so much PROPERTY, as DRUNKEnness. your ye Hear what the Word of God declares :-Awake drunkards, and weep: Joel i. 5. Strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it: Isaiah xxiv. 9. The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: uncleanness, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of the which I tell you,-that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God: Gal. v. 19. 21. If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live: Rom. viii. 13. Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the |