BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 147 



is not unknown. Probably there is not one among 

 my readers who will not be able to recall some 

 such incident in his own circle — the case of some- 

 one who lived, perhaps, long past the term 

 usually allotted to man, and who finally passed 

 away without a struggle, without a pang, so that 

 those who were with him found it hard to believe 

 that the spirit had indeed gone. In such cases, 

 the subject has invariably been healthy, although 

 it is hard to believe that, in the conditions we 

 exist in, any man can have the perfect health that 

 all wild creatures enjoy. 



