6 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



An acquaintance, especially an early acquaintance, with 

 the habits, feelings, and instincts of the animal creation is, 

 we believe, an important aid in awakening right sympathies 

 toward the various members of which it is composed. 

 Many an unkind act to the inferior creatures is the result 

 rather of ignorance and thoughtlessness than of malevo- 

 lence ; and an endeavour to direct attention to those strong 

 affections, so forcibly portrayed in the preceding extract, 

 which exist among the lower creatures, to that confidence 

 which they repose in man when kindly treated by him, to 

 their importance to his welfare in the economy of Provi- 

 dence, and to the intelligence or instinct with which they 

 are endowed by the Greatest of all Beings, such an attempt 

 will rarely be made without some valuable result. For the 

 feathered tenants of our woods and fields we would present 

 an especial plea, regarding them, as we do, among the 

 natural ornaments of our land, and it is painful to witness 

 the annual and heartless destruction of them during the 

 winter months. 



As a class, Birds are proverbial for the skill which they 

 display in the construction of their nests ; but those tem- 

 porary habitations are not all equally beautiful; indeed, 

 they vary so greatly in their forms, materials, and methods 



