20 
BIRD-LIFE. 
To include man in the list of animals which we 
would select for comparison, is not our intention, although 
we might readily do so; for, by the power of his genius, 
he creates for himself the wings that he lacks, and 
through his intelligence spans the mighty ocean. We 
may, most assuredly, assert of animals, that the existence 
of each one is more perfect, active and life-like, in pro¬ 
portion to the ratio in which its movements partake, in a 
more or less degree, of the attributes above-mentioned. 
In this respect bounteous Nature appears to have 
emptied her cornucopia among the birds as a class. The 
Bird is, of all creatures, the most versatile in its move¬ 
ments ; it runs, climbs, swims, dives and flies. Here we 
find combined in one creature almost every possible variety 
of motion; and, though all these various kinds are not to 
be found in a single species, still they belong to birds as 
a class, and the individual even is generally possessed 
of several, or, at all events, one of these in the highest 
perfection. Coupled with external motion a still higher 
organisation of movement is to be found in the interior 
of the body. In no other class of animals do we find so 
active a change of matter, or blood so warm, as among 
birds. The one is a necessary consequence of the other; 
it is the greater power of respiration which gives the bird 
all its vigour and liveliness. 
All birds are not endowed with the same perfection of 
motion, but exhibit many gradations of power in this 
respect. What a difference there is between the rapid 
stride of the Ostrich, and the all-but totally helpless 
movement of the Swift, on land! There are quick 
runners, as the Bustard and the Plover; nimble ones, as 
the Sandpiper and the Lark; slashing trotters, like the 
Cassowary and the Emu; quick jumpers, as the Magpie 
