THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
223 
that a special blessing was conferred on the 
earth when God created the ^ winged fowl after 
his kind,’ and all concur in the divine approval: 
‘ And God saw that it was good.’ 
“ Putting aside the question of utility, and 
taking into consideration only that which inter¬ 
ests by uniqueness of form and elements of 
beauty, undoubtedly the birds carry off the 
palm. There is no order in all the round of 
Nature that fills so many of the senses, and fills 
them so completely. The floral glories of the 
field and garden gratify the eye and delight 
with their fragrance and lusciousness; the in¬ 
sect world has its rare curiosities and attrac¬ 
tions ; the fish of the sea and the beasts of the 
field have their wonders to hold admiring inspec¬ 
tion ; but the ‘ fowls of the air ’ surpass them all 
in points of attraction. They gem the air with 
the flash of their wings, and fill the ear with 
the melody of their songs. Their gifts are 
angelic, song and wings ; and they alone of all 
the animal races have acquired something of 
man’s endowment of language. A landscape 
without a shrub or flower would be a desert, 
and a grove without a bird or a song would 
repel as a dreary solitude. Neither is abso- 
