CHAPTER I. 
BIRDS AND POETRY. 
“ Die schonere Natur warf in die Seelen 
Sanftspiegelnd einen schonen Widerschein.” 
Schiller. 
Man can only associate, so to speak, with the higher 
and more intelligent classes of animated nature, for 
between him and the lower creature there is a gulf fixed 
too deep to admit of any communion between the two. 
Man always at first either seeks an intellectual rela¬ 
tionship with animals, without which the connection 
is incomplete; or the animal which he seeks to attach to 
him must labour for him, be of some essential service to 
him, either by its intelligence or by its physical powers. 
The ever-faithful dog—who has sacrificed itself in man’s 
service, and without whose agency and assistance certain 
districts of the earth would remain uninhabitable—has to 
thank his own intelligence, his own noble nature, so 
often, alas, misunderstood, for the secret friendship 
shown to him by man. The scarcely less noble horse 
bears the warrior forth to battle; and no representation 
of a conqueror is complete if unaccompanied by his 
companion in danger—the horse. This creature, like 
the dog, may thank its own utility for the questionable 
privilege of being tamed and broken, i.e. cursed by 
