MY HAPPY FAMILY. 69 



their nests. In this manner I hved so happily that I 

 even forgot to ask myself if I was happy, and I have 

 learned this as the result of my lonely cogitations : 

 That happiness is an article that can not be made to 

 order. It must be the outgrowth of labors devoted 

 to some other end, and must come to you, as it will, 

 unsought. If you have a purpose that fills your soul, 

 that engages your affections — whether it be charity or 

 study, travel or agriculture — whatever it be, if pur- 

 sued with ardor, it is quite likely to bring you happi- 

 ness. 



Crusoe says that he " found a kind of wild Pidg- 

 eons, who built not as wood Pidgeons, in a Tree ; but 

 rather as house Pidgeons, in holes in the Rocks." 

 These may have been the great blue pigeons, which 

 are now rare in the island ; but I am inclined to think 

 they were not pigeons at all, but birds altogether dif- 

 ferent. For Crusoe's knowledge of natural history 

 was extremely limited, and he hardly '' knew a hawk 

 from a hernshaw." 



Breeding in holes in the great cliffs, were the birds 

 which, I think, he mistook for pigeons — the graceful 

 Tropic Birds, trimmest and handsomest of sea fowl. 



The generic name of the " Tropic," PJiaethon^ is 

 that of the audacious young man, who (as narrated in 

 the Greek mythology) undertook t(] guide the chariot of 

 the sun, and having nearly set the world on fire, was 

 hurled by Jupiter into the sea. 



The name is well bestowed upon this sun-loving 

 bird, but it is found nearer the sea than the heavens. 

 It is very conspicuous at sea, in the tropical waters, 



