ESTHETIC RELATIONS OF BIRDS. 13

ist I have ever met has convincingly illustrated. I could name nearly a dozen, living and dead, whom it has been my valued privilege to know. All had passed the allotted threescore and ten, and some were over fourscore. The friends and associates of their earher days had passed awav, and one might imagine that they had no interest in life and were simply waiting for the end. But these veterans were old in years only. Their hearts were young. The earth was fair; plants still bloomed, and birds sang for them. There was no idle waiting here ; the days were all too short. With what boyish ardor they told of some recent discovery ; what inspiration there was in their enthusiasm ! So I say to you, if you would reap the purest pleas- ures of youth, manhood, and old age, go to the birds and through them be brought within the ennobling influences of Nature.