December 
to the tops of the mountains, and even pervad- 
ing the atmosphere, ranging from microscopic 
protozoa up through all degrees of magnitude 
and of organic complexity of vegetable and 
animal life, and the countless specimens of each 
type distributed within the bounds of its habi- 
tation, each a perfectly developed and inces- 
santly energizing force fulfilling its prescribed 
purpose from time immemorial in the economy 
of nature,—such a sweeping glance gives a faint 
idea what an amazingly intricate and magnifi- 
cent piece of mechanism is this world. Of all 
the sciences that come to view in this stupen- 
dous panorama, ornithology is perhaps the most 
poetic and picturesque.* 
Song - birds, not those whose natures are 
mocked in brass prisons, but in the wild free- 
dom of their native haunts, have in themselves 
something akin to the human heart, bringing 
them almost to the plane of fellowship with 
mankind. There is sublimity in the imperial 
flight and bearing of the eagle, like the rugged 
* Tt lifts a corner of the curtain to our view of the infin- 
ity of life on the globe, to be told fhat there are 100,000 
species of animalcules alone, and that of one of these, 
30,000 individuals can inhabit a single drop of water; 
while another is so prolific that in four days its descend- 
antssnumber 70,000,000,000. 
399 
