624 ANNtJAL BEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



It is not easy to describe in words the nature of the enduring hap- 

 piness which the love of birds gives. This must, of necessity, vary 

 with temperament. Says Gilbert White : 



To yonder bench, leaf-shelter'd, let us stray, 



Till blended objects fail the swimming sight. 



And all the fading landscape sinks in night; 



To hear the drowsy dor come brushing by 



With buzzing wing, or the shrill cricket cry ; 



To see the feeding bat glance through the wood ; 



To catch the distant falling of the flood ; 



While o'er the cliff th' awakened churn-owl hung 



Through the still gloom protracts his chattering song; 



While high in air, and pois'd upon his wings. 



Unseen, the soft enamor'd woodlark sings : 



These, nature's works, the curious mind employ. 



Inspire a soothing, melancholy joy : 



As fancy warms, a pleasing kind of pain 



Steals o'er the cheek, and thrills the creeping vein. 



There are occasions on which watching birds has inspired in me 

 " a soothing, melancholy joy." But, as a rule, the pleasure which the 

 feathered folk give me, is of a more lively and exhilarating nature, 

 not infrequently culminating in mirth and laughter. For this, the 

 birds of India are largely responsible. As I have said elsewhere, the 

 man who can watch the doings of the Indian crow for half an hour 

 without being provoked to laughter should, without delay, apply for 

 six months' leave on medical certificate. 



I am sometimes asked, Wherein lies the attraction of birds? 



The reply is : " In their sprightliness, their vivacity, their beauty, 

 and their grace." As Mr. F. W. Headley justly observes, " a bird 

 seems to have more life in him than any other living creature." 



In a sense birds stand at the head of creation. It is on them that 

 nature has showered a double portion of her good things. Their 

 power of flight gives them a big advantage over their terrestrial 

 fellow-creatures. Professor Newton wrote : 



Birds have no need to lurk hidden in dens, or to slink from place to place 

 under the shelter of the inequalities of the ground or of the vegetation which 

 clothes it, as is the case with so many animals of similar size. 



This locomotive superiority, although it must add greatly to the 

 happiness of the life of a bird, has not been all gain. Animals are 

 so constituted that it is only through intense struggle that they 

 advance toward perfection. The fowls of the air, safe in their power 

 of flight, have not been obliged to use their wits to the extent that 

 terrestrial creatures have. Instead of developing a large brain, they 

 have dissipated their energy in flight, song, and gorgeous plumage. 

 Birds form a backwater in the stream of evolution. 



