ALEXANDER THE COPPERSMITH 245 
every day we hear the coppersmith “toiling at his 
green forge.” 
The fact that the bird will not sing when the weather 
is cold bears out the theory that its note is merely an 
expression of happiness. When the temperature is 
low the coppersmith is miserable, so refuses to sing. 
Nature may be cruel in many respects. She is un- 
doubtedly a hard task-mistress, for she ruthlessly de- 
stroys all the unfit. She is not a philanthropist; she 
provides her children with neither hospitals nor alms- 
houses, for she has no halt or maimed or blind to look 
after. Her creatures perish the moment they become 
weakened by disease. Is this cruelty, or is it the truest 
kindness? Is it better to prolong a sick animal’s misery, 
or to destroy the suffering creature ? 
The drastic procedure of Dame Nature is certainly 
fraught with good results. All her creatures enjoy 
perfect health, health such as is vouchsafed to few 
civilized men. Birds and beasts in their natural state 
are therefore perfectly happy, and the songs which fill 
the welkin are the expression of this happiness, 
The coppersmith is not a difficult bird to see; he is 
not of a retiring disposition, nor does he attempt to 
avoid publicity. He likes to sit upon the topmost 
bough of a lofty tree; as often as not he selects a 
branch devoid of leaves, and there pours forth his 
eternal Tonk, tonk, tonk, wagging his head from side to 
side by way of beating time. The result of this head- 
wagging is that the bird’s note seems to come froma 
direction other than it really does, and, on this account, 
it is difficult to “spot” the bird, in spite of its loud note 
and conspicuous perch. 
