212 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



strong constitution," and a " long pocket/' neither of which requi- 

 sites can he unfortunately lay claim to. For these birds can only 

 be met with, at least the rarer ones of their order, amid the " waste 

 and solitary place,'' or the damp and stagnant marsh, where the 

 sound of no intrusive footstep breaks the brooding stillness of Nature; 

 where the wary Heron or the skulking Rail enjoy their diurnal 

 rambles or nocturnal watches without fear or thought of man's 

 presence; spending their days in such complete seclusion that, at 

 times, it forces the thought upon the mind, " Wherefore the use of 

 their existence ? " a thought, however, tinged with far too great an 

 idea of man's own importance, and showing but a cramped and un- 

 loving perception both of the magnitude and liberality of God's 

 creation ; as though man himself was not only the last and best 

 production, but also the sole cause and reason of all God's works ; 

 and giving no place to the thought of that all-embracing love in 

 creative power which shines through the whole universe ; and which 

 is suggested in those miraculously-preserved words of Holy Writ, 

 which describe the attitude of the Divine Creator at the end of the 

 six days' work, " And God saw all that He had made, and behold 

 it was very good." Nay ! we can, after all, but fall back in faith 

 upon the commonly-received truth, that everything in Nature has 

 an allotted space to fill, and work to do ; and to record the fact, 

 rather than to explain it, which has been immortalised in those 

 lovely and thought-suggestive words of our poet Grey : — 



" Full many a gem of purest ray serene, 



The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear ! 



Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 



And waste its sweetness on the desert air." 



Nature herself is stamped with the impress of the attributes of its 

 Creator — munificence, prodigality, large-heartedness — leading the 

 mind ever upward through its various links until it reaches God 

 Himself, and until it exclaims with the Psalmist, " What is man 

 that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest 

 him ? " for no man can view Nature with an appreciative eye, unless 

 he becomes lost in wonder at the sublime vastness of its conceptions, 

 and the marvellous forethought shown in its minutest details. No 



