858 Mary Somerville. 



profound research. His knowledge of the characters 

 and habits of animals of all kinds is very great, and 

 his kindly feelings charming. It is chiefly by the 

 feathered race that he has established his law of 

 selection relative to sex. The males of many birds 

 are among the most beautiful objects in nature ; 

 but that the beauty of nature is altogether irrelative 

 to man's admiration or appreciation, is strikingly 

 proved by the admirable sculpture on Diatoms and 

 Foraminifera ; beings whose very existence was un- 

 known prior to the invention of the microscope. 

 The Duke of Argyll has illustrated this in the 

 " Reign of Law," by the variety, graceful forms and 

 beautiful colouring of the humming birds in forests 

 which man has never entered. 



In Mr. Darwin's book it is amusing to see how 

 conscious the male birds are of their beauty; they have 

 reason to be so, but we scorn the vanity of the savage 

 who decks himself in their spoils. Many women 

 without remorse allow the life of a pretty bird to be 

 extinguished in order that they may deck themselves 

 with its corpse. In fact, humming birds and other 

 foreign birds have become an article of commerce. 

 Our kingfishers and many of our other birds are 

 on the eve of extinction on account of a cruel 

 fashion. 



I have just received from Frances Power Cobbe 



