286 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



BIRDS. 



Their Wings and Eapidity of Flight Quill-feathers Wings of the Ostrich and 

 the Penguin Feathers Rump-gland Legs of Birds Waders Swimmers 

 Raptorial Birds Perchers Beaks of Birds Black-skimmer Boatbill Spoon- 

 bill Crossbill The Flamingo's and the Toucan's Tongue Digestive Apparatus 

 of the Birds Strength of Vision Services of Birds Nests of Birds The 

 Sand-martin The Woodpecker The Chaffinch The Cassique The Balti- 

 more Oriole Weaver-birds The Baya The Social Grossbeak The Tailor- 

 bird The Tallegalla The Sea-lark Heroism of Birds in defending their 

 Young The Lammergeier Artifices of the Lapwing and Ostrich Memory and 

 Intelligence of Birds Migratory Instinct. 



WHEN the word reptile is mentioned, a host of loathsome forms 

 rises before our fancy. The slimy toad seems to distend its 

 repulsive body, the wily adder hisses and menaces us with its 

 venomous fangs, the boa uncoils its enormous folds to stifle us 

 in its embrace, and the dreadful crocodile snaps at us with its 

 formidable jaws. 



ETow different the picture when our thoughts turn to the 

 Birds, the light-winged denizens of the air ! There all was 

 dismal and dreary, clothed in dull melancholy tints such as 

 befit the putrid swamp or the pestilential morass ; here all is 

 broad daylight and cheerful sunshine. The groves resound with 

 harmonious voices ; the brilliant hummingbird darts from 

 flower to flower ; the golden pheasant rears his beautiful crest ; 

 the swan, robed in his spotless garb, draws furrows through the 

 crystal lake ; the peacock, in the full consciousness of his 

 beauty, strides proudly over the lawn ; and high above, almost 

 beyond the reach of human vision, the eagle sweeps in majestic 

 circles through the sky. 



Other animals likewise quit the solid earth, or the waters of 

 the sea, to seek food, or refuge from their enemies, in the light 



