CHAPTER VIII 

 WHAT BIRDS DO FOR US 



Man's attitude toward nature reveals a long 

 step in his evolution. Shocked now and again into 

 sudden recognition of her power by some mighty, 

 destructive phenomenon — an earthquake, volcanic 

 eruption, cyclone or flood — undeveloped man of all 

 nations, trembling with terror, purchased ease of 

 mind only by offering sacrificial gifts to appease 

 the wrath of imaginary gods, and then straightway 

 relapsed into indifference. Her gentle, kindly 

 ministrations every hour of his life, her marvelous 

 beauties, impressed him not at all. Whenever 

 he thought of nature it was of something mystic, 

 beyond his comprehension, evil, terrible. 



Even the matchless art of the Greeks reveals 

 no appreciation of natural beauty beyond the glori- 

 fied human physique. For all the great masters 

 among early Christian painters, for Raphael, Michael 

 Angelo, Correggio, the lovely, smiling Italian Eden 

 lying around them did not exist. It was literally 

 beneath their notice, for their sight, lifted perpetu- 

 ally heavenward in search of subjects, could include 

 nothing but clouds as natural settings for their 

 Madonnas and cherubim. Not until the last cen- 

 tury did artists come down to earth and discover 

 the landscape for the people. And not until the last 

 generation has nature study, the trained observation 



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