ORDER ACCIPITRES. 245 



his defective sight will not permit him to pursue it in the upper 

 regions. That sort of tranquil indifference with which this 

 bird will suffer itself to be approached, M. Dumont declares not 

 to proceed from the want of perception of approaching danger. 

 But that gentleman has not thought proper to inform us what 

 it does proceed from. If it does not arise from the organic 

 deficiency just noticed, or the obtuseness of some other organ, 

 or the absence of general sensibility, we have no idea to what 

 cause it can be assigned. Certain we are, from the ordinary 

 indications of character in the buzzard, that it does not pro- 

 ceed from an intrepidity of disposition, which M. Dumont has 

 antithetically denominated tranquil audacity. However, as to 

 the question of cowardice we perfectly agree with M. Dumont, 

 who well observes, that there can be no true cowardice except 

 in individuals, who, provided by nature with offensive or de- 

 fensive weapons, have not the courage to employ them. We 

 may also add, that the employment of them is not always a 

 proof of true courage. This quality can only be exhibited 

 against an adversary, equal or superior in strength, a sort of 

 courage comparatively rare among brutes. Their courage is for 

 the most part, if not proportioned to their actual quantum of 

 strength, at least determined by their resources for attack and 

 resistance. With the exception of the demonstrations of ma- 

 ternal instinct, and the cases of the horse and dog, especially 

 the latter, we find but few examples of true courage among the 

 lower animals. It is only in cultivated man that this virtue 

 is to be found in perfection, for the courage of savages and bar- 

 barians approximates very closely to that of brutes. True 

 courage consists neither in insensibility to danger from nature or 

 custom, nor in the confidence inspired by strength, activity, or 

 skill ; but in a habit of the mind, induced by intellectual disci- 

 pline, which bears its possessor calmly through scenes of peril 

 and death, conscious of his risk, and conscious of his weakness. 

 We cannot be surprised to learn that falconers have attempted, 

 without success, to teach these birds an art for which nature 



