76 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP. 



hears the roar of the wild beasts, and the 

 headlong gallop of the frightened herds, and 

 he finds the buttings and the kicks of other 

 animals harder to endure than the blows from 

 which he fled : he has peculiar disadvantages 

 from being a stranger ; the herds of his own 

 species which he seeks for companionship con- 

 stitute so many cliques, into which he can 

 only find admission by more fighting with 

 their strongest members than he has spirit to 

 undergo. As a set-off against these miseries, 

 the freedom of savage life has no charms for 

 his temperament ; so the end of it is, that 

 with a heavy heart he turns back to the 

 habitation he had quitted." 



But though animals may not be free, I 

 hope and believe that they are happy. Dr. 

 Hudson, an admirable observer, assures us 

 with confidence that the struggle for exist- 

 ence leaves them much leisure and famous 

 spirits. " In the animal world," he exclaims, 1 

 " what happiness reigns ! What ease, grace, 

 beauty, leisure, and content ! Watch these 

 living specks as they glide through their 



1 Address to Microscopical Society, 1890. 



