APPENDIX. 171 



SIGNS FROM BIRDS. 



Dr. Jenner (Roy. Soc. of London. Phil. Trans., vol. cxiv. 

 parti, pp. 11-14) notes the "beautiful propriety in the order 

 in which singing-birds fill up the day with their pleasing har- 

 mony. The accordance between their songs, and the aspect 

 of Nature at the successive periods of the day at which they 

 sing, is so remarkable that we cannot but suppose it to be 

 the result of benevolent design." 



This idea, beautiful as that of Marvell in his dial of flowers, 

 takes us as far, perhaps, as we are warranted in going ; never- 

 theless, men have found from time immemorial an accordance 

 reaching much wider, have found a design, benevolent or 

 maleficent, working through the song and flight and presence 

 of birds at important, decisive periods of life. 



See article "Augurs" in Ency. Brit., vol. iii. p. 64 (Am. ed.). 

 Brand, J. : Popular Antiquities (rev. ed., 1877), pp. 686-702. "Bird- 

 Lore." (All the Year Round, N. 8. vol. xx., May 11, 1878, pp. 365-370.) 

 Forbes, Maj. J. : Gaulama or Demon-bird. (In his Eleven Years in Cey- 

 lon, vol. i., London, 1840, pp. 353-354.) 



LAST DAYS OF THE AUTHOR. 



Though biographical matter is not a part of this volume, 

 it seems proper, for the sake of the author's many friends in 

 New England, to add in this connection a word concerning 

 his last days ; especially since the word comes from his widow, 

 Mrs. Julia C. Cheney, who, by reason of her intelligence and 

 affection, rendered him great service during his life and work 

 in Massachusetts : 



"On Thursday, May 1, my dear husband was summoned 

 to Boston to reduce to manuscript from the phonograph some 

 Indian songs collected by the Boston Society of Natural His- 

 tory. Previous visits for the same purpose had greatly inter- 

 ested him in the work, and he left home anticipating a day 

 of pleasing labor. On Friday, the 2d, he returned, ill from 



