PHASES OP BIRD LIPE. 20 1 



the growing brood. With all his pirouetting in the 

 air, he carries in his bosom an anxious heart, as you 

 will quickly see if you go too near his snuggery in 

 the grass. The wild scramble in which birds of all 

 kinds often have to engage, in order to secure a 

 refractory insect, proves that there is ample room 

 for the play of their best energies. Thus we see 

 that the birds have plenty to do besides rollicking, 

 singing, enjoying gala-days, and taking excursions 

 to gay watering-places. Like their human brothers 

 and sisters, they must toil patiently on " through 

 the every-dayness of this work-day world." They, 

 too, may have their literature — unwritten, however 

 — on the "dignity of labor." 



V. 



BIRD PLAY. 



How Strange it is that animals never laugh ! If 

 you watch a group of monkeys playing their antics, 

 you will find their faces as sedate as a judge's, save, 

 perhaps, a merry twinkle of the eye. Comical as 

 their gambols are, one would think they would break 

 into convulsions of merriment. True, animals have 

 various ways of giving vent to their exuberant feel- 

 ings, but this is done very slightly by means of facial 

 expression. Their risibles must be meagrely devel- 

 oped. What has been said in regard to animals in 

 general is also true of birds, whose eyes often 

 twinkle and are intensely expressive, but whose 



