. The bird . with sharp teeth, with formidableapparatus, and ingenious machines of destruction. Powerless againstthe irruption of an unexpected host which crawled, stirred, ascended,penetrated, had almost eaten up ourselves, we contended with themthrough the agency of some brave and voracious fowls, which nevercounted their enemies, and did not criticise, but swallowed Breton and Vendean fowls, inspired with the genius of their 14 a 218 THE BIRD country, made their campaign so much the more successfully, becauseeach waged war in its own manner. The black, the gray, and theegg-layer
. The bird . with sharp teeth, with formidableapparatus, and ingenious machines of destruction. Powerless againstthe irruption of an unexpected host which crawled, stirred, ascended,penetrated, had almost eaten up ourselves, we contended with themthrough the agency of some brave and voracious fowls, which nevercounted their enemies, and did not criticise, but swallowed Breton and Vendean fowls, inspired with the genius of their 14 a 218 THE BIRD country, made their campaign so much the more successfully, becauseeach waged war in its own manner. The black, the gray, and theegg-layer (such were tlieir military titles), marched together in closearray, and recoiled not a step ; the dreaTner or jiJiilosopher preferredskirmishing by himself (chouanner), and accomplished much morework. A superb black cat, the companion of their solitude, studieddaily the track of the field mouse and the lizard, hunted the wasp,devoured the Spanish fljr, alwajs at some distance in advance ofthe respectful One word moi-e in reference to them, and one regret. Our businessbeing finished, we prepared for our departure. But what would becomeof 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 ubiqui
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Keywords: ., bookauthormich, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbirds
