436 
BIRD-LIFE. 
aid of the flight of birds, to read the fate of nations in 
the pages of the future, and the result fell devoutly from 
his lips, it was, possibly, in his eyes no empty ceremony, 
and the words he gave utterance to were no deliberate 
tissue of deception practised by him, though, even in those 
days, some members of the priesthood were well able to 
profit by the ignorance of the credulous. The knife of the 
anatomist had not, in those days, laid bare to the eye 
that most delicate net-work of muscles, whose mutual and 
intermingled action, at the bidding of the nervous system, 
is productive of flight. At that time man did not see in 
the feather of the bird, the hair of the mammal and the 
scale of the lizard; by him the bird was still regarded as 
a godlike incomprehensible whole,—a servant, a mes¬ 
senger from heaven. Mercury, the courier of the gods, 
was represented with winged feet. The marvels of those 
days have subsided; the fairy tale, the mysterious, has 
disappeared, though the poetry still remains. To this day 
the angel is represented to the Christian child as descend¬ 
ing from the throne of the All-loving Father, and bringing 
peace to the wearied soul, and a balm to the sorrow- 
stricken heart. The messenger of the Christian God is 
depicted with golden wings. 
And we, with all our education and knowledge, taught 
that wings are denied our godlike forms, still cast almost 
envious glances at the flock of Swifts which take up their 
summer quarters in the walls of the old ruined tower at 
home, and sport about with lightning flight, startling us 
every now and then with their shrill screams, and calling 
off our attention from our work. At first we are annoyed 
at the noisy interruption, but anger is lost in wonder at 
the rapidity of the evolutions; the gratification of the eye 
assuages the irritation of the ear. Soon we no longer 
