. The bird . them ? Given to a friend, they would assuredly be eaten. Wedeliberated long. Then, coming to a vigorous decision, according tothe ancient creed of savage tribes, who believed that it was sweetestto die by the hands of those we love, and thought that by eatingtheir heroes they themselves became heroic, we made of them, notwithout lamentation, a funereal banquet. It is a truly grand spectacle to see descend—one might almost sayfrom heaven — against this frightful swarming of the universalmonster-birth which awakens in the spring, hissing, whirring, croak-ing, buzzing, in its huge hu
. The bird . them ? Given to a friend, they would assuredly be eaten. Wedeliberated long. Then, coming to a vigorous decision, according tothe ancient creed of savage tribes, who believed that it was sweetestto die by the hands of those we love, and thought that by eatingtheir heroes they themselves became heroic, we made of them, notwithout lamentation, a funereal banquet. It is a truly grand spectacle to see descend—one might almost sayfrom heaven — against this frightful swarming of the universalmonster-birth which awakens in the spring, hissing, whirring, croak-ing, buzzing, in its huge hunger, the universal saviour, in a hundred AS THE LABOURER OF MAN. 219 forms and a himdred legions, differing in aims and character, butall endowed with wings, all sharing a seeming privilege of ubi-quity. To the universal presence of the insect, to its ubiquity of numbers,responds that of the bird, of his swiftness, of his wing. The greatmoment is that when the insect, developing itself through the heat,. meets the bird face to face; the bird multiplied in numbers; the birdwhich, having no milk, must feed at this very moment a numerousfamily with her living prey. Every year the world would be en-dangered if the bird could suckle, if its aliment were the work of anindividual, of a stomach. But see, the noisy, restless brood, by ten,twenty, or thirty little bills, cry out for their prey; and the exigencyis so great, such the mateinal ardour to respond to this demand, that thedesperate tomtit, unable to satisfy its score of children with threehundred catej-pillars a day, will even invade the nests of other birdsand pick out the brains of their young. From our windows, which opened on the Luxemburg, we observedevery winter the commencement of this useful war of the bird againstthe insect. We saw it in December inaugurate the years honest and respectable household of the thrush, which one mightcall the leaf-lifter (tourne-feuilles), did their work by couples; whenthe
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Keywords: ., bookauthormich, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbirds
