Page:Scotish Descriptive Poems - Leyden (1803).djvu/178

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ALBANIA;
Fleet grayhounds that outrun the fearful hare; And many a dog beside, of faithful scent, To snuff the prey, on eager heel, to scour The purple heath, and snap the flying game. 210 Here no tarantula exerts its charm; No serpent in the farthest desart dwells; Deep in the heath, here harmless adders skulk, Wound up in glistering rings; and, poisonless, The cunning spider clambers up the wall. The lakes and mountains swarm with copious game; The wildgoose gray, and heathcock hairy legg'd, White soland, that on Bass and Ailsa build; The woodcock slender billed, and marshy snipe, The free-bred duck, that scorns the wiles of men, 220Soaring beyond the thunder of the gun; Yet oft her crafty fellow, trained to guile, And forging love, decoys her to the snare, There witnesses her fate, with shameless brow.Why should I here the fruitful pigeon name, Or long-necked heron, dread of nimble eels, The glossy swan, that loaths to look a-down, Or the close covey vexed with various woes?While sad, they sit their anxious mother round, With dismal shade the closing net descends; 230
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