BIRD COURTSHIP 269 



beauty and song with tender care. If we come to 

 feel that they have the same mental processes as 

 we have, there is a sort of inclination to let them 

 shift for themselves, since they are so wise. 



The birds are the free wild tenants of field and 

 wood; they are so erratic and so irresponsible in 

 most of their acts, and their range is so wide that 

 for three fourths of their lives little can be learned 

 of them by their closest students and lovers. 

 When they are scattered from east to west, range 

 from the Arctic Circle to Patagonia, and make 

 two migrations yearly, it is impossible to know 

 everything about them with certainty. 



