CHAPTER Y. 
FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE. 
“ ’Twas wisdom, mercy, goodness, that ordain’d 
Life in such infinite profusion,—-Death 
So sure, so prompt, so multiform to those 
That never sinn’d, that know not guilt, that fear 
No wrath to come, and have no heaven to lose.” 
Montgomery. 
A long life of work and vicissitude is the lot of a bird, 
when once it has left the nest, the warm shelter of the 
mother’s breast, and renounced for ever her tender love 
and care. We will cast a cursory glance at this life, as 
far at least as concerns the bodily growth and changes to 
which the creature is subject, without, however, at the 
present moment touching upon its pleasures and pains, 
loves, sorrows and battles : these vicissitudes will occupy 
our attention farther on. 
The bird’s childhood, as we have already remarked, is 
very short; its youth, however, is long, though, perhaps, 
not so in exact proportion to the age it ultimately 
attains. The actual growth is certainly soon completed; 
and ere many weeks have passed since the bird’s first 
entrance on the world’s stage, it is fully prepared to 
cope with its storms, strivings and requirements, and 
thoroughly capable of taking care of itself. But to 
rival the perfection of the parent birds requires a very 
