xxiv. pfant "bore, Tsegcl^tJ/, ani. Tsi^ric/. 



passion of the Nightingale for the Rose and of the fondness of the 

 Bird of Paradise for the dazzling blooms of the Tropics : the 

 especial liking, however, of one of this race — the Amhlyornis inor- 

 nata — for flowers is worthy of record, inasmuch as this bird-gardener 

 not only erecfls for itself a bower, but surrounds it with a mossy 

 sward, on which it continually deposits fresh flowers and fruit of 

 brilliant hue, so arranged as to form an elegant parterre. ) 



We have reached our limit, and can only just notice the old 

 traditions relating to the sympathies and antipathies of plants. 

 The Jesuit Kircher describes the hatred existing between Hemlock 

 and Rue, Reeds and Fern, and Cyclamen and Cabbages as so 

 intense, that one of them cannot live on the same ground with the 

 other. The Walnut, it is believed, dislikes the Oak, the Rowan the 

 Juniper, the White-thorn the Black-thorn ; and there is said to be 

 a mutual aversion between Rosemary, Lavender, the Bay-tree, 

 Thyme, and Marjoram. On the other hand, the Rose is reported to 

 love the Onion and Garlic, and to put forth its sweetest blooms 

 when in propinquity to those plants ; and a bond of fellowship is 

 fabled to exist between a Fig-tree and Rue. Lord Bacon, noticing 

 these traditionary sympathies and antipathies, explains them as 

 simply the outcome of the nature of the plants, and his philosophy 

 is not difficult to be understood by intelligent observers, for, as St. 

 Anthony truly said, the great book of Nature, which contains but 

 three leaves — the Heavens, the Earth, and the Sea — is open for all 

 men alike. 



