CHAPTER XII 



THE LOVE ELEMENT IN BIRD PROTECTION 



The poet Bryant wisely calls attention to the 

 fact that it is to those who held loving com- 

 munion with Nature, to whom she speaks and 

 for whom she has a message in all the changing 

 conditions of human life. It is equally true that 

 to those who do not love her, she is as silent as 

 the Sphinx. Love is the key to the great realm 

 of nature the wonderful house of life. 



In a profound reverence for life, some of the 

 vanished civilizations have mighty lessons to teach 

 the man of to-day, who is dominated by his lust 

 to kill. Egypt had its "sacred Ibis" and anyone 

 killing it was guilty of murder and the punish- 

 ment was death. Why was it thus highly es- 

 teemed? Because in the old days "Ra came down 

 from heaven and said unto one of the gods of 

 Egypt: 'Thou art in my place and thou shalt be 

 called Theth, the representative of Ra.' Then 

 the majesty of the god of Ra spake unto Theth, 

 saying: 4 I will make something shining and re- 

 splendent in the under-world and in the land of 



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