io6 



VIGNETTES FROM NATURE, 



always those of form rather than those of 

 colour. ' ' . ; . ,, 



•'- The waders, I sometimes fancy, only care 

 for beauty of shape, not for beauty of tint. 

 As I stood looking" at the heron here just 



O J 



now, the same old idea seemed to force itself 

 more clearly than ever upon my mind. The 

 decorative adjuncts — the curving tufted crest 

 on the head, the pendent silvery gorget on 

 the neck, the long ornamental quills of the 

 pinions — all look exactly as If they were de- 

 liberately intended to emphasise and heighten 

 the natural gracefulness of the heron's form. 

 May It not be, I ask myself, that these birds, 

 seeing one another's statuesque shape from 

 generation to generation, have that shape 

 thus hereditarily Implanted upon the nervous 

 system of the species, In connection with all 

 their Ideas of mating and of love, just as the 

 human form is hereditarily associated with all 

 our deepest emotions, so that Miranda falling 

 in love at first sight with Ferdinand is not a 

 mere poetical fiction, but the true illustration 



