236 



THE UNIVERSE. 



its tiny claw has not injured the velvet softness of the 

 tiower. It might have lighted upon one of the twigs of the 

 modest sensitive-plant without this taking any alarm. 



The secretary-bird, on the contrary, a powerful bird of 

 prey belonging to Africa, incessantly occupied in combating 

 reptiles, with one blow of its wing stuns a tortoise or a 

 threatening serpent. The swan, with the same member, 





118. Comparative Dimensions of Birds' Eggs. 1. That of the Epiornis. 2. Of the 

 Ostrich. 3. Of the Hen. 4. Of the Humming-Bird. 



can break a man's leg, or, as has been sometimes seen, dash 

 him headlong into the water. The bearded vulture (Gy- 

 paetus barbatus), some zoologists tell us, attacks the hunters 

 unawares in the dangerous passes of the Alps, and occasion- 

 ally gives them a great deal of trouble. And the eagle, in 

 its bold flight, carries children through the fields of air, and 

 crushes them in the mountain precipices. 1 



1 An instance of this kind took place in the Valais in 1838. A little girl, five 

 years old, called Marie Delex, was playing with one of her companions on a 

 mossy slope of the mountain, when all at once an eagle swooped down upon her, 

 and carried her away in spite of the cries and presence of her young friend. 

 Some peasants, hearing the screams, hastened to the spot, but sought in vain for 



