82 
WILD SCENES AND SONG-BIRDS. 
traceable tlirougli, above, under, around, all impediments : 
bere tbe main road brancbes o£f", and is lost, or it ends at tbe 
tree witb many insects on its bark, or at some great deposit of 
favorite food tbat bas been found ; and all tbis pains and labor 
bave been expended in digging tbat road to secure tbe con- 
venience of transportation ! 
Talk of your Simplon or your Erie Canal, or your bun- 
dreds of miles of buman railroads! Wonderful Instinct^ 
indeed ! 
Dig away tbe eartb carefully, and look into tbat subterra- 
nean city. Here are streets, galleries, arcbes and domes, 
bridges, granaries, nurseries, walls, rooms of state — aye, pal- 
aces — cells for laborers, all tbe features and fixtures, diverse 
and infinite of a peopled city of bumanity ! 
But see, a war bas broken out witb a neigbboring city ! 
Marvellous sigbt ! Tbe eager legions pour in a black flood 
from tbe gates. Tbe cbief men and captains of tbe peo- 
ple distinguisbed, not by plumes and stars, and orders, but 
by tbeir greater size, and tbe formidable strengtb of tbeir 
pincers. Tbey are marsballed into bands — tbey know tbe 
strengtb of discipline and military science ! In one wide, 
sweeping, unbroken line, tbey pour upon tbe enemy's town. 
Tbe figbt is desperate^ — ^band to band — pincer to pin- 
cer ; for it is a battle for dear life — liberty and larvse ! Tbe 
vanquisbed are dragged into slavery; tbe larvse carried 
off and tenderly nourisbed by tbe conquerors, and wben 
tbey grow up are made belots of, bewers of wood and draw- 
ers of water. 
Strangely elastic Instinct tbis ! It we combine, compare, 
deduce — is not tbere sometbing like combination, compari- 
son, deduction, bere? 
Tbe mocking bird is, in many respects, cbaracterized by 
tbe most remarkable sagacity. We watcbed a pair of tbem 
once build tbeir nest in a low tborn busb, growing in wbat is 
called a " sink-bole," in tbe West. Tbis bad once or twice been 
filled witb water by tbe beavy rains, but at long intervals. 
