CHAPTER XI 



BIRD LIFE 



' One there lives whose guardian eye 

 Guides our humble destiny ; 

 One there lives who, Lord of all, 

 Keeps our feathers lest they fall.' HEBER. 



IT is, or before the days of School Boards was, a 

 common article of faith of country boys that no bird 

 can count beyond three. 



The imaginative powers of man reach a little 

 farther ; but they also have their limitations. But for 

 this poverty of imagination, which is to blame for half 

 the uncharitableness and harsh judgments of everyday 

 life, the feelings with which a thoughtful man would put 

 down any honestly- written book telling the latest con- 

 clusions of research in any branch of science would be 

 a mingling of abasement, reverence, and encouragement: 

 abasement at the thought of the very small spot in 

 the scheme of the universe which the individual man 

 at best can occupy ; reverence in the presence of the 

 stupendous mysteries which it is the fashion just now 

 to speak of as 'Natural laws,' lying hidden behind 

 the veil, small corners of which seem to have been 

 lifted by modern searchers for the truth; encourage- 



