FIRST DAY. 



J. Your friend, however, excites no 

 veneration among the birds of the air, 

 who thrash him soundly when they catch 

 him abroad. " Mine heritage," says the 

 prophet, " is unto me as a speckled 

 bird ; the birds round about are against 

 her." 



S. I have often thought of that passage 

 as I have seen the owl reeling and blunder- 

 ing through the air at daylight, assailed 

 by small birds of all sizes, even including 

 the titmouse and the wren. But these 

 little creatures sometimes attack the cuckoo 

 and the hawk as their common enemy in 

 the same manner, and occasionally suffer 

 for their temerity from the talons of the 

 latter. Such allusions in Holy Writ re- 

 mind me that a few years ago some witling 

 talked of writing a book to show the ac- 

 quaintance of the inspired writers of the 

 Old Testament with natural history, as if 

 Nature's huge volume did not lie before 



