DECAY OF CERTAIN SPECIES 



115 



they always useless? Did they never dispoi-t themselves in happy 

 freedom when enjoying a more genial atmosphere, and spending the 

 greater portion of the year in the mild climates of Greece and Italy? 

 One might be tempted to believe it. The swan, driven back to the 

 north, where his amours secure mystery and repose, has sacrificed his 

 song, has gained the accent of barbarism, or become voiceless. The 

 muse is dead; the bird has survived. 



Gregarious, disciplined, full of tactic and resources, the crane, the 

 superior type of intelligence among these species, might contrive, one 

 would fancy, to prosper, and to maintain herself everywhere in her 

 ancient royalty. She has lost two kingdoms, however : France, 

 where she now only appears as a bird of passage ; England, where she 

 rarely ventures to deposit her eggs. 



The heron, in the days of Aristotle, was full of industry and 

 sagacity. The ancients consulted him in reference to fine weather or 

 tempest, as one of the gravest of augurs. Fallen in the mediaeval 

 days, but preserving his beauty, his heavenward flight, he was still a 



