know very little, being shortsighted and, therefore, denied 

 the pleasure of having acquaintance with them. But I have 

 experienced that flocks of Quail will come and live with us 

 in the woods as soon as they have found out that we do not 

 object to them. On an out-of-the-way place where I stayed 

 for years no quail was ever shot at. Neither were they fed. 

 In all of the surrounding country every little boy and every 

 grown man carried a gun as often as time and fancy would 

 permit, and even small birds fell their prey. This proves 

 that the quail would live with us if we did not force it to 

 leave us. 



Behold, also, the Sea-gull as she sails the air and leisurely 

 follows the boats, indifferent to the noisiest crowd which may 

 man them. Call them scavengers of the waters, if you like, 

 but do not deny them their elegance and their stoicism. 

 Does it not look as if they would light on your hand if out- 

 stretched to welcome them? Their large and friendly eye is 

 turned towards you and a grateful recognition is made in 

 bow and flight for every particle thrown to them. I have 

 never observed that anybody entertained an inclination to 

 harm them, and would they move if you forced them to? 



And now the word for my friend, the toad. This philoso- 

 pher will live at our front door half buried under the pot of 

 our most cherished house-plant, the Diogenes of the am- 

 phibia. He will take care of his cave and love life like the 

 happy artisan who sits at his steps and smokes a pipe in the 

 fullest enjoyment of life. When the toad goes forth to hunt 

 his living he picks up what annoys us and devours a great 

 number of bothersome insects. I have made pets of toads 



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