144 



THE OOLOGiST. 



and the ear are but the windows through 

 which the light from the outer world 

 finds its way iuto the mind and soul. 

 So it is with the other senses. 



As a rule w^e are prone to see only 

 what we have been trained to see or 

 have ti'ained ourselves to see; or, as is 

 too frequently the case, there has been 

 no education of the powers of what I 

 may call physical observation. So that 

 all our education which should have 

 ended in fitting us for a fuller appre- 

 ciation of the world in which we live 

 and what is that pray but a greater 

 capacity for Life — ends often with 

 mummifying us, sealing us up in living 

 cells, with less capacity for the enjoy- 

 ment of Nature than she gave us as 

 children, than the red man has. 



Outside of the sense range of how 

 many mortals lies how vast and splen- 

 did a world! How much more fully, 

 for instance, might the farmer enjoy 

 life if he took the trouble to cultivate 

 closer relations with the world in 

 which he lives, in which his life finds 

 so picturesque a setting against all the 

 mighty forces and mysteries of the 

 universe. If he were a more careful 

 and interested observer. 



How can a man be a good live farmer 

 without being a naturalist also? That 

 he might know what wild fiowers 

 bloomed about him spotting with 

 color the successive pages of the year 

 whei'eby nature keeps a faithful calen- 

 dar in his fields; that he might see the 

 beauty which a Supreme Beauty has 

 given to the I'oughest weed, that he 

 may admire and learn of it while he 

 destroys it; that he might know what 

 birds sang in his fields and orchards; 

 what 'bugs' were foes and which he 

 was to class with the hostes on his 

 right hand which gather to his aid. 

 For as the poet says;. 



"More servants wait on man 

 Than he'll take notice of." 



There is some hope for the farmer 

 whose life is somewhat more than the 

 cultivating of corn and the feeding of 



the swine, who has a* longing after the 

 higher things even into the idea which 

 nothing can smother. As a rule people 

 ai'e only wh:)t they are interested in, 

 which means something rather narrow 

 and limited and far enough away from 

 Nature. Tlie writer of the article on 

 "Birds That Think" writes like a re- 

 porter writing for business ends. 



The use of the word "mind" in the 

 article is not quite correct. It could 

 scarcely be said that ' a Sparrow has 

 more mind than a Swallow, seeing how 

 much more capable of extended flight 

 is the latter. Although, getting down 

 to particulars, even here a dispute 

 might be raised as to whether the 

 Swallow actually had any more 'mind 

 power,' when we consider its peculiar 

 adaptation to long continued flight lies 

 rather in its lightness, general figure 

 and shape of wing. But of the two 

 birds the English Sparrow — for such it 

 was although not so stated in the ar- 

 ticle — had the best ch.iuce in the fight 

 being a trained and experienced fighter 

 — a fighter both by nature and nation- 

 ality. The Sparrow whipped the Swal- 

 low and drove it from the barn. So far 

 the tale goes well and is too common a 

 one, experience leads me to believe. 

 But now comes the change. The ob- 

 server was very patient — he waited 

 around "about an hour." 



Meanwhile the Swallow had been out 

 sitting on a telegraph or telephone wire 

 or flying in superb tireless circles get- 

 ting its "mind:" full of cogitations, 

 plotting a revenge — or had she been in 

 close consultation with some of the 

 sage Svallows of that region renowned 

 throughout all Swallowdom for age 

 and judgment— two indisseverable 

 Siamese twins as we are taught to be- 

 lieve'? Of course our observer could 

 not |follow the Swallow nor could he 

 have anjf means of knowing what she 

 did or where she went while he waited 

 her return. She may have flown far, 

 acting as a Swallow usually does un- 



