46 SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS. 
dainty manners of the little feathered pair, and then spun a 
romance about them, or composed a poem, or even written 
a vivid descriptive sketch in plain prose, that would have 
been an addition to science indeed, as well as to literature. 
Let us have public museums, and perhaps at rare intervals 
a private collection might be permissible ; but let us, as 
lovers of * our little brothers of the air,” raise our voices in 
protest against slaughter and robbery for mere decorative 
purposes, or to gratify the momentary whims of gatherers of 
bric-a-brac. 
It is difficult to understand how so many persons can 
take a charming bird’s life without compunction. It is a sin 
against their esthetic nature. See that Blackburnian or 
Chestnut-sided Warbler glancing about in the tree; now he 
balances atilt on a twig; now he clings back downward to a 
spray ; now he poises like a hummer before a leaf cluster; 
now he flits and tilts from stem to stem so airily, so fairily, 
his varied colors flashing in the sun like the glittering 
facets of a diamond. He is a sonnet in feathers—lightness 
of air and sunshine embodied—rhythm caught in a living 
form ! 
