OUR COMMON BIRDS 309 



yet produced the best and most beautiful rose or peach 

 or bird or man or anything else that the world is capable 

 of yielding. By proper care we can have a world full not 



only of such birds as we Xhe'winds Uow east, the winds Wow west, 



hi , r 1 • I •.-I The blue eggs in the robin's nest 



ave now, out 01 DiraS Wltn wm soon have wings and beak and breast, 



sweeter and sweeter song And flutter and fly away. Longfellow. 



and more and more beautiful plumage. And in presence 

 of these infinite possibilities for good or for ill we must 

 above all things remember that every human action tends 



to make the world a garden ^o produce and multiply endlessly, with- 



or a desert, a paradise of "u' ^"^ caching the last possibility of 



^ excellence, and without committing herself 



joy and beauty or a vale to any end, is the law of Nature. 



f , Burroughs, Birds and Poets, p . 156. 



of tears. 



If our birds felt a sense of security in our presence, they 

 might sing even more sweetly and more abundantly than 

 they do now. Indeed, Burroughs remarks of English birds : 

 " They sing with more con- ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ 

 fidence and copiousness, and ^^""^^ "^'^''^ i^^el 



Burroughs, Fresh Fields, p. 136. 



as if they, too, had been 



touched by civilization." They sing more hours in the 

 day and more days in the year. Furthermore, if our 

 birds were uniformly safe Many haps faii in the field 



, J Seldom seen by wishful eyes ; 



m man s presence ana un- ^^j ^,i ^^j ^^ows did Nature yield, 



J- «. u J 4-U«,r ..,.-.ii1,-1 r^r\-n\o. To please and win this pilgrim wise. 



disturbed, they would come ^^^^^ ^^^ p^^^^y^^ ^^^^ i„ ^^^ ^^^^. 



much closer to us, as they He heard the woodcock's evening hymn ; 



^ He found the tawny thrushes' broods ; 



did to ThoreaU, and to Celia And the shy hawk did wait for Wm; 



What others did at distance hear, 

 ThaXter in her garden. And guessed within the thicket's gloom, 



r Was shown to this philosopher. 



With proper care many or And at Ws bidding seemed to come. 

 our best songsters and most embrson, woodnates, i, -.. 



useful birds that are now rare might become more common, 

 filling our parks and the thickly planted portions of our 



