CONCLUSION. 215 



" Here on the hills he feeds his herds, 

 His flocks on yonder plains ; 

 His praise is warbled by the birds : — 

 Oh could we catch their strains ! 



" Mount with the lark, and bear our song 

 Up to the gates of light ; 

 Or, with the nightingale, prolong 

 Our numbers through the night." 



Enough has been said, however, to stimulate and 

 encourage the desire for a more extended and intimate 

 acquaintance with the feathered tribes. A wise man 

 said, " They seem to do all the things they ought ; 

 and to act with what may be called a steady common 

 sense in their respective situations. I have never seen 

 a bird do a foolish thing for a creature of their powers, 

 frame, and organs, and in their state." Of what reader 

 of this volume could a similar declaration with truth be 

 made? 



Still the instinct of birds is what it was. All the 

 winged inhabitants of Paradise wove their first nests as 

 curiously and well as the wood-minstrels of our evil day. 

 The nightingale is just what it was six thousand years 

 ago : the eagle is no more capable of advancement than 

 the wren. They do not improve, and they never will. 



Ours is a far different course. It is for us to be 

 always learning — to add to the stores of memory every 



