If you had wings, would you not fly
straight off in the direction of the Bass Rock or Ailsa Craig, to hunt
up your old arm-chair?"
"Don't speak of it; I feel my heart go pit-pat when I think of home,
sweet home."
"So do the birds. When they soften the grain before they throw it into
the maw of their fledgelings--when they fly off and return laden with
midges to their nests--when they tear the down from their breasts to
protect their eggs and their young, do you think their hearts do not
beat as well as yours?"
"But all that is said to be instinct."
"Heart or instinct, where is the difference? The Abbe Spallanzani saw
two swallows that were carried to Milan return to Pavia in fifteen
minutes, and the distance between the two cities is seven leagues."
"That I can easily believe."
"When you see a little, insignificant bird flying backwards and
forwards, perching on one branch and hopping off to another,
whistling, carolling, perching here and there, you think that it has
no cares, that it does not reflect, and that it does not love!"
"Well, I have heard in my time a great many wonderful stories of
robin-redbreasts and jenny-wrens, but I always understood that they
were intended only to amuse little boys and girls."
"You consider, doubtless, that a field-sparrow is not a creature of
much importance; but do you know that he consumes half a bushel of
corn annually?"
"If that is his only merit, the farmers, I dare say, would be glad to
get rid of him.
Pages:
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359