362 THE EGG. 



in the testimony of the narrator. Nor would his 

 doubt be the less if he were told, that the being 

 to come out of one egg would have the fleetness of 

 an arrow, and the strength of a giant ; that the 

 gripe of death would be in its talons, and the 

 rending of destruction in its beak ; that its eyes 

 would be piercing, and its aim certain, even when 

 it rushed like a thunderbolt from the upper regions 

 of the sky the scourge and terror of all the 

 beings to be produced by the other eggs of the 

 collection. So, also, if he were told that the pro- 

 duction of another egg would, without any external 

 cause which man could discover, (except a cause 

 presumed from the fact) make the two hemispheres 

 of the earth resound with its songs, alternately in 

 the opposite seasons of the year. Or, that it were to 

 pass away to a far distant country, without chart 

 of the way, and without guide ; and thence return 

 with the return of the spring, to build its house 

 under the eaves, to produce a new succession of 

 eggs, to toil on the wing the live-long summer 

 day in catching flies for the nourishment of its 

 young; and then, at the appointed time, again 

 take its departure, again to return the harbinger 

 and the pledge of summer. If he were told of 

 that for the first time, he would abandon any of 

 the ordinary matters about which men busy them- 

 selves so much, and take a long pilgrimage to see 

 the wonderful creature, so that he might have 

 fame and credit among his neighbours, as the for- 

 tunate traveller who had seen with his eyes the 

 very wonder of the world. 



That, however, is only a little portion of what 

 the animal world has to disclose, not to our labo- 

 rious search, but of itself, of its own accord, if we 



