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JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



pressive forms; to recover health and 

 strength by fishing, boating and wan- 

 dering in the forests. These men re- 

 turn at night to the camp, they eat a 

 simple and wholesome meal, they tell 

 stories, they lie down to sleep on 

 the sweet-scented boughs, to be awak- 

 ened at midnight by the weird cry of 

 the loon on the lake or by the hoot- 

 ing of the owl, to have their imagi- 

 nations aroused, to entertain noble 

 and serious thoughts. At last they 

 return home to their several callings, 

 invigorated in body and mind. Is not 

 this the use to which Maine should 

 devote its forests? 



I wish now to offer briefly a few 

 reasons why animals are very inter- 

 esting to us. 



1st. Their mysterious relationship 

 to us excites our interest. We be- 

 long to the same great genealogical 

 tree with them. They are our hum- 

 ble relations. Although they have 

 received noble and beautiful endow- 

 ments we still are compelled to sym- 

 pathize with them because of their 

 lowly estate. Some of them are de- 

 pendent on us for their happiness and 

 well being. Our conduct and feelings 

 towards animals have greatly improv- 

 ed within the last forty years, since 

 the publication of Darwin's Origin of 

 Species by Means of Natural Selec- 

 tion, in 1859. Greater advance has 

 been made in this respect in these 

 forty years than in the eighteen 

 christian centuries previous to this 

 time. This great original^work dealing 

 with fundamental principles has 

 changed the current of our thoughts. 

 Our conception of God's infinite power 

 and goodness has become broader and 

 clearer. The fact that God is the au- 

 thor of all life has become more real 

 to us. We see that the tiniest thing 

 that breathes has endowments that 

 no one but God could bestow. All 

 life has become more sacred. With 

 one exception all the societies that 

 have been formed, all the magazines 

 that have been published and all the 

 legislative enactments for the preven- 

 tion of cruelty to animals have 

 a date subsequent to the publi- 

 cation of the Origin of Species. 

 In this country the first law for 

 the prevention of cruelty to ani- 

 mals was passed by the New York 

 legislature in 1865. The first society 

 was established also in New York in 

 1868. Now every state in the Union 



has a law to protect animals. In 

 1887, her Jubilee year. Queen Victoria 

 wrote to the Royal Society for Pre- 

 vention of Cruelty to Animals as fol- 

 lows, "1 notice with real pleasure the 

 growth of humane feelings toward 

 the lower animals. No civilization is 

 complete which does not include the 

 dumb and defenceless of God's crea- 

 tures within the sphere of charity and 

 mercy." 



2nd. Animals ought to be interest- 

 ing to us because of their physical 

 endowments. I must treat this part 

 of the subject in a very cursory and 

 fragmentary manner. It is probable 

 that every species of vertebrate ani- 

 mals surpasses man in one or more 

 physical endowments. Some species 

 surpass him in strength, many in 

 beauty and gracefulness of form and 

 many in activity and swiftness of 

 motion. 



All are equal to man in the perfect 

 adaptation of their bodies to their 

 condition and manner of life. Nature 

 has endowed all animals with cloth- 

 ing of wool, hair, fur, feathers, etc. 

 It is recorded that our first parents, 

 early in their history, discovered their 

 deficiences in this respect. This ani- 

 mal clothing is incomparable for 

 lightness and warmth, is adapted to 

 the habitat of the animal and is gen- 

 erally very beautiful. Charles Reade 

 in the "Cloister and the Hearth" 

 makes the Pope of Rome in the cere- 

 mony of blessing animals say, "See 

 their myriad forms, their lovely hair 

 and eyes, their grace, and of some 

 the power and majesty, the colors of 

 others brighter than roses or rubies." 



The human infant is of all absorbing 

 interest in what it is to become, be- 

 cause of its possibilities. The young 

 animal is generally delightful in what 

 it now is; many are graceful and 

 some are very picturesque. Mari- 

 anne North, the celebrated flower 

 painter, pronounces the young camel 

 the most picturesque of all living 

 things. If Miss North is correct 

 in this, the young moose and the 

 young giraffe must be good seconds. 

 When the first young giraffe was 

 brought to Paris in 1827 the populace 

 went wild with excitement. Men, 

 women and children of all classes 

 wore gloves, waistcoats and gowns of 

 the colors of the giraffe and the mer- 

 chants who first put on the market 

 dress goods of the giraffe pattern be- 



