. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Bullock Oriole of Nature, if we pass with reverent ecstacy from one marvel to another, or if we gaze with kindling enthusiasm upon a single example of his perfect work, we declare ourselves to be of his sort. We are manifestly pleased, and his pleasure is in the sight of ours. We hold communion with him in wonder no less than in praise. Rightly considered, wonder is worship, and God hath not wrought in vain. And what marvel in all nature shall
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Bullock Oriole of Nature, if we pass with reverent ecstacy from one marvel to another, or if we gaze with kindling enthusiasm upon a single example of his perfect work, we declare ourselves to be of his sort. We are manifestly pleased, and his pleasure is in the sight of ours. We hold communion with him in wonder no less than in praise. Rightly considered, wonder is worship, and God hath not wrought in vain. And what marvel in all nature shall exceed that offered in the delicate, fantastic traceries of a Bullock Oriole's egg! On a background of palest bluish gray, the calligraphist, having dipped his pen in a well of purplish black, proceeds to scrawl and shade, to zigzag and flourish and vibrate— all this while the obedient oval turns round and round. Now as the egg revolves for a dozen turns, the artist bears on with laborious care. Now he lifts the pen; and now, return- ing, he loiters while the ink runs out upon the page in little pools of indelible blackness. Quaint and fanciful, indeed, are the divagations of the Icterine genius. With all the world before him, why should he not choose to be fantastic? On a specimen be- fore me there are traceries which vary in width from one twen- tieth of an inch to one ten- thousandth. Some of them stand forth like the lines of an engraved visiting card, while others require a magnifyingglass to recall their nebulous course to visi- bility. On another egg twelve in- dependent lines pass unheeding within a total space of one tenth of an inch, while the smaller end of the same egg is perfectly bare. Here the weird image of a goblin piper braces itself on legs set rakishly awry, and strains away at a splintered flute—all within the space of a barley-corn. There a cable of twisted purple ropes frays suddenly and goes off into gossamer hysterics. Another egg, tottering under i
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Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
