. The bird . nocturnal forays of wild beasts, he obstructs the entrancewith thorns. Nor does the bird know how to close his nest. What shall beits defence ? A great and terrible question. He makes the entry narrow and tortuous. If he selects a naturalnest, as the wryneck does, in the hollow of a tree, he contracts theopening by skilful masonry. Many, like the pine-pine, build a doublenest in two apartments : the mother sits in the alcove ; in the vesti-bide watches the father, an attentive sentinel, to repulse invasion. What enemies has he to fear ! Serpents, men or apes, squirrels !And what d
. The bird . nocturnal forays of wild beasts, he obstructs the entrancewith thorns. Nor does the bird know how to close his nest. What shall beits defence ? A great and terrible question. He makes the entry narrow and tortuous. If he selects a naturalnest, as the wryneck does, in the hollow of a tree, he contracts theopening by skilful masonry. Many, like the pine-pine, build a doublenest in two apartments : the mother sits in the alcove ; in the vesti-bide watches the father, an attentive sentinel, to repulse invasion. What enemies has he to fear ! Serpents, men or apes, squirrels !And what do I say ? The birds themselves! This people, too, hasits robbers. His neighbours sometimes assist a feeble bird to recoverhis property, to expel by force the unjust usurper. Naturalists assureus that the rooks (a kind of crow) carry further the spirit of do not pardon a young couple who, to complete their establish-ment the sooner, rob the materials— the movables—of another nest. !, \ V.^^ J. Tliey assemble in a troop of eight or ten to rend in fragments tlienest of the criminals, and completely destroy that house of theft. Andpunished thieves are tlriven afar, and forced to begin all over again. ESSAYS AT A REPUBLIC. Is there not here an idea of property, and of the sacred rights oflabour ? Where shall they find securities, and how assure a coinniencementof public order? It is curious to know in what waj- the birds haveresolved the question. Tvi^o solutions presented themselves. The first was that of associ-ation—the organization of a government which should concentrateforce, and by the reunion of the weak form a defensive power. Thesecond (but miraculous ? impossible ? imaginative ?) would have beenthe realization of the aerial city of Aristophanes,—the construction ofa dwelling-j)lace guarded by its lightness from the unwieldy brigandsof the air, and inaccessible to the approaches of the brigands of the eaith—the hunter, the serpent. Tliese two th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookidbird00mi, booksubjectbirds
