. The bird . lpless than that of the quadruped, whose young can walkas soon as born. But how protect them ? It can do nothing butremain at its post and die; it cannot fly away, for its love has brokenits wings. All night the narrow entry of the nest is guarded by thefather, who sinks with fatigue, and opposes danger with feeble beakand shaking head. What will this avail if the enormous jaw of theserpent suddenly appears, or the horrible eye of the bird of death,immeasurably enlarged by fear ? Anxious for its young, it has little care for itself In its seasonof solitude Nature spares it the tor
. The bird . lpless than that of the quadruped, whose young can walkas soon as born. But how protect them ? It can do nothing butremain at its post and die; it cannot fly away, for its love has brokenits wings. All night the narrow entry of the nest is guarded by thefather, who sinks with fatigue, and opposes danger with feeble beakand shaking head. What will this avail if the enormous jaw of theserpent suddenly appears, or the horrible eye of the bird of death,immeasurably enlarged by fear ? Anxious for its young, it has little care for itself In its seasonof solitude Nature spares it the tortures of prevision. Sad anddejected rather than alarmed, it is silent, it sinks down and hides itslittle head under its wings, and even its neck disappears among theplumes. This position of complete self-abandonment, of confidence,which it had held in the egg—in the happy maternal piison, whereits security was so perfect—it resumes every evening in the midst ofperils and without protection. THE NIGHT. 177. Heavy for all creatures is the gloom of evening, and even for theprotected. The Dutch painters have seized and expressed this truthvery forcibly in reference to the beasts grazing at liberty in themeadows. The horse of his own accord draws near his companion,and rests his head upon him. The cow, followed by her calf, returnsto the fence, and would fain find her way to the byre. For theseanimals have a stable, a lodging, a shelter against nocturnal bird has but a leaf for its roof! How great, then, its happiness in the morning, when terrorsvanish, when the shadows fade away, when the smallest coppicebrightens and grows clear! What chattering on the edge of everynest, what lively conversations ! It is, as it were, a mutual felicita-tion at seeing one another again, at being still alive! Then the songscommence. From the fuiTOw the lark mounts aloft, with a loudhymn, and bears to heavens gate the joy of earth. As with the bud, so with man. Every line in the ancient
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookidbird00mi, booksubjectbirds
