TUF SACRKD HIRD 



93 



— floatinf^ at ease on IjhkuI vans, or rising heavenwards 

 in vast and ever-vaster circles? That is the one object 

 in nature which has the effect of widening the prospect 

 just as if the spectator had himself been miraculously 

 raised to a fjrcater altitude, wiiilc at the same time the 

 blue dome of the sky appears to be lifted to an im- 

 measurable hcij[,dit al)ovc him. The soaring figure 

 reveals to sight and mind the immensity and glory of 

 the visible world. Without it the blue sky can never 

 seem sublime. 



But the great soaring bird is nowhere in our lonely 

 skies, and missing it we remember the reason of its 

 absence and realise what the modern craze for the arti- 

 fically reared pheasant has cost us. 



