THE OOLOGIST. 



143 



A Hanging and the Lesson in It. 



lu Popular Seiencc News for April, 

 1894, under the title of "Birds That 

 Think" was an article taken fi-oiu 

 Harper's Young People. And as that 

 article is short and intended to form 

 the text for this present sermon, it will 

 be no more than right to quote it in 

 full. It is exactly as follows: 



***** 



"A Swallow had built its nest among 

 the rafters of the barn of Mr. Denny 

 near Royal Oaks iu Talbot County. 

 While on the ue?t the Swallow was at- 

 tacked by the Sparrow and the two 

 birds had a furious battle, which went 

 on sometimes in the riir and sometimes 

 on the ground. The Swallow was cour- 

 ageous, but it had not the mind of the 

 Sparrow and tinally had to yield to its 

 antagonist. Having driven the Svval- 

 low from the barn the victorious Spar- 

 row took possession of the nest and con- 

 tents. In about an hour the Swallow 

 returned to the barn bearing in iis 

 mouth a bunch of something resem- 

 bling long horsehair. 



"The bird went directly and noise- 

 lessly to its nesc, threw itself on the 

 back of the Sparrow and before the 

 astonished bird had recovered from the 

 shock caused by the sudden and violent 

 return of its vanquished foe, the Swal- 

 low put a horse-hair noose around the 

 Sparrow's neck and somehow fastened 

 the other end of the lasso to the nest or 

 to the rafter. The Sparrow soon chok- 

 ed to death on its unexpected gallows, 

 where it hung for some days." 



***** 



1 deny the truthfulness of this ac- 

 count on several grounds. It does not 

 read like the account of an eye-witness 

 or at all events like the account of such 

 an eye-witness as would be capable of 

 telling just what transpired. Although 

 we will not affirm that no such actions 

 ever will be observed in lower animals, 

 yet it is most highly improbable; and 

 we will only grant the bounds of possi- 

 bility for the sake of argumentative ob- 

 servation and to add interest to our 

 examinations. 



For my part, even if I liad seen such 

 an event transpire I think I would not 



have believed my eyes. However I do 

 not think I would have seen the same 

 chain of incidents as the writer of that 

 article reported. Nowhere are the 

 majority of people so incompetent to 

 judge, so little to be trusted in their 

 calculations, as in matters where their 

 senses are called into play 'in connec- 

 lion with animated nature. 



One day I met a farmer who gave me 

 the startling information that the Bob- 

 olink lived on his farm all the year 

 round, and that the little Black-capped 

 Chickadee or Titmouse was the genu- 

 ine "sapsucker." He likewise startled 

 me by telling me that the dragon-flies 

 which I had pinned on my hat were 

 'mosquitoes!' I must here exonerate 

 Ohio and this section by the statement 

 that my ignorant farmer does not live 

 in these 'parts' nor is he by any means 

 to be considered a type of Buckeye 

 farmers. 



Yet the ignorance -whereof this case 

 is an extreme, the difference between 

 it and the average being only one of de- 

 gree not of kind, is so wide spread that 

 I may safely call it universal. 



Not boastingly or with vanity be it 

 said that no people as a whole know so 

 much concerning the world in which 

 they live as the American. Yet this 

 knowledge is but a dim glimpse of that 

 all-eugulting ocean whose bounds are 

 infinitude itself. The majority of per- 

 sons do not use their eyes often enough 

 to truthfully see; neither can they trust 

 the evidence of their ears. And wiien 

 once in a while they are awakened into 

 consciousness by some extraordinary 

 event their organs play fthem false. 

 They are dazzled and bewildered by 

 the profusion and novelty of sensations. 

 And why? Simply because they have 

 not exercised them frequently enough 

 to have aijy reliable criterion of past 

 experiences. For it is not the eye that 

 must see, but the brain behind it. Be- 

 hind the eye must be the eye-brain; and 

 behind the ear the ear-brain. The eye 



