74 ^!)f autlr iFlotoers of 



birds, ye are greatly beholden unto God 

 your Creator, and always and in every 

 place it is your duty to praife Him, foraf- 

 much as He hath given you freedom to fly 

 in every place ; alfo hath He given you rai- 

 ment twofold and threefold almoft, becaufe 

 He preferved your Seed in the ark of Noah, 

 that your race might never be lefs. Again, 

 ye are bounden to Him for the element of 

 the air, which He has deputed unto you ; 

 moreover, you fow not, neither do you 

 reap, and God feeds you, and gives you the 

 flreams and fountains for your thirft ; He 

 gives you mountains and valleys for your 

 refuge ; tall trees wherein to make your 

 nefts ; and inafmuch as you neither fpin 

 nor weave, God clothes you, you and your 

 children ; hence ye fhould love your Crea- 

 tor greatly, Who gives you fuch great bene- 

 fits, and therefore beware, my Sifters, of the 

 fm of ingratitude, and ever ftrive to praife 

 God." Saint Francis faying thefe words 

 to them, all thofe birds, as many as there 

 were, began to ope their beaks and ftretch 

 forth their necks and fpread their wings 

 and reverently to bow their heads even to 

 the earth, and by their a6ls and their fongs 

 to fet forth that the Holy Father gave them 



the 



