204 CONCLUSION. 
but there are many forms of demi-servitude which the animals them- 
selves would willingly accept. 
The small Chili falcon (cernicula), for example, loves to dwell 
with his master. He goes alone on his hunting expeditions, and 
faithfully returns every evening with what he has captured, to eat it 
en famille, He feels the want of being praised by the father, flattered 
by the dame, and, above all, caressed by the children. 
Man, formerly protected by the animals, while he was indifferently 
armed, has gradually risen into a position to become their protector, 
especially since he has had powder, and enjoyed the possibility of 
shooting down from a distance the most formidable creatures. He has 
rendered birds the essential service of infinitely diminishing the number 
of the robbers of the air. 
He may render them another, and not a less important one—that 
of sheltering at night the innocent species. Night! sleep! complete 
abandonment to the most frightful chances! Oh! harshness of 
Nature! But she is justified, inasmuch as she has planted here 
below the far-seeing and industrious being who shall more and more 
become for all others a second providence. 
“T know a house on the Indre,” says Toussenel, ‘where the 
greenhouses, open at even, receive every honest bird which seeks an 
asylum against the dangers of the night, where he who has delayed 
till late knocks with his bill in confidence. Content to be immured 
