nation > class, race unfortunate > inauspicious, ominous
2 And fatal birds about them flocked were,
fatal > fateful, ominous; destructive, ruinous; gravely mischievous
3 Such as by nature men abhor and hate: 4 The ill-faced owl, death's dreadful messenger;
ill > evil owl > (To the Romans, an omen of death: see Met. 10.453; see also 105.30:6-7, etc.)
5 The hoarse night-raven, trump of doleful drear;
night-raven > (An unspecified nocturnal bird, perhaps the nightjar or the night-heron. See SC, "June", 23 and gloss) trump > proclaimer, herald drear > sorrow, grief
6 The leather-winged bat, day's enemy; 7 The rueful strich, still waiting on the bier;
strich > screech-owl (see Isa. 34.15; this bird is usually identified as either the tawny owl, Strix aluco, or the barn owl, Tyto alba) still > continually; yet waiting on > attending; waiting [sitting] on
8 The whistler shrill, that whoso hears does die;