i6 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



and could, if circumstances required it, put in force all 

 their varied arts, but have, through the course of endless 

 time, adopted those motions best suited to their wants 

 and conditions of life. 



Thus has Nature bountifully supplied these feathered 

 creatures with instinct sufficient to baffle, in most cases, 

 their natural enemies — instinct which is so artfully put 

 in force as to baffle even man himself, gifted as he is 

 with noble reasoning powers, which enable him to be 

 the superior and master of everj' other living creature. 



