THE NOTEBOOK OF A CITY NATUKALIST. 5B 



starts again, and gradually increasing in strength and feel- 

 ing its way it flutters and flies, but the martin dives off at 

 once; the finch or warbler can, before leaving the roofless 

 paternal mansion, stretch its short wings, but the long- 

 winged martin or swallow has not room in its mud hovel 

 ^o exercise its powei's, and before it has learnt to swim 

 it takes its first plunge, it dives into space, and the most 

 perfect flying machine is at once, and for life, an accom- 

 plished fact ! ! 



We made the acquaintance of the nuthatch, and we arc 

 told by Science that the nuthatch is more nearly related to 

 the swallow than to the woodpecker. Beak and feet are of 

 little value in classification ; internal characteristics alone 

 are reliable. Is the mud around the nuthatch's home a 

 reminiscence of by-gone memories — a connecting link with 

 the ancestral swallow ? 



We ai^ told that to find " the common ancestors of the 

 wood-peckers and the swifts the geological record (the 

 genealogical tree) need not be searched so far back as would 

 be necessary to discover the common ancestors of the swifts 

 and swallows/' Who dares talk of common ancestors of 

 swifts, swallows, and woodpeckers ? The only one who dares 

 to, is he who assumes powei^s for the created beings which 

 he denies to the Creator. 



Why do not some of the common offspring of these 

 "common ancestors" appear in our museums? A "Jew's 

 eye " would lose its character for value ; some of these 

 missing links would be worth to the theorist mor-e than all 

 eyes that ever saw light ! 



Many hivds make nests that do not appear to be happy 

 homes. As soon as the eggs are hatched, the home is broken 

 up. Why do some birds lay eggs which produce young that 

 are able to fly, vun^ or swim in a few hours, and that are 



