BIRDS AT SUNSET 257 



eye of the bird of death, immeasurably enlarged by 

 fear ? " 



Greater nonsense than this was never penned outside 

 a political pamphlet. Birds do not, as Michelet seems 

 to imagine, go to sleep quaking with terror. They 

 know not the meaning of the word death, nor have 

 the\' any superstitious fears of ghosts and gobhns. 



Birds with 5'oung sleep the sleep of a man \^ithout 

 a single care. 



At other times birds do not roost in solitude, but 

 gather together in great companies, the members of 

 which are as jolly as the 3*0 img folks at a supper part^^ 

 after the theatre. The happiness of the fowls of the 

 air at the simset hour is almost riotous. 



Darkness, however, exercises a soothing influence 

 over them. A feehng of sleepiness steals over them, 

 and they then doubtless experience the luxurious 

 sensation of tiredness which we human beings feel 

 after a day spent in the open air ; for, although they 

 know it not, their muscles are tired as the result of 

 the activity of the da}'. 



Their sweet slumbers completely refresh them. 

 Before da^^-n they are awake again, and are up and 

 about waiting for it to grow sufficiently light to enable 

 them to resume the interrupted pleasures of the 

 previous day. 



