. The bird. Birds. THE FIKST FLUTTERINGS OF THE WING. 95 Let us pause for a few moments at the solemn passages where life uncei'tain seems still to oscillate, where Nature appears to question herself, to examine her own volition. " Shall I be fish or mammal?" says the creature. It falters, and remains a fish, but warm- blooded ; belongs to the mild race of lamentins and seals. " Shall I be bird or quadruped ?" A gi-eat question ; a perplexed hesitancy— a prolonged and changeful combat. All its various phases are dis- cussed ; the diverse solutions of the problems naively su
. The bird. Birds. THE FIKST FLUTTERINGS OF THE WING. 95 Let us pause for a few moments at the solemn passages where life uncei'tain seems still to oscillate, where Nature appears to question herself, to examine her own volition. " Shall I be fish or mammal?" says the creature. It falters, and remains a fish, but warm- blooded ; belongs to the mild race of lamentins and seals. " Shall I be bird or quadruped ?" A gi-eat question ; a perplexed hesitancy— a prolonged and changeful combat. All its various phases are dis- cussed ; the diverse solutions of the problems naively suggested and realized by fantastic beings like the ornithorhynchus, which has nothing of the bird but the beak; like the poor bat, a tender and. innocent animal in its family-circle, but whose undefined form makes it grim-looking and unfortunate. You perceive that nature has. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Michelet, Jules, 1798-1874; Giacomelli, Hector, 1822-1904. London ; New York : T. Nelson
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Keywords: ., bookauthormich, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbirds
