Arabella Burton Buckley

“ Stroll out some fine summer’s evening, when the sun has set and the moon has not yet risen, and as you wander in the fields and woods with eye and ear open, you will scarcely have gone far before you will be aware that there is plenty of stir going on. Some active little field-mouse will cross your path in her eager search for grain and seeds to lay up for her winter store, or you may startle a hare in the long grass and watch her run across the field, or see her sit upright on her haunches surveying the quiet night-world. ”

“ For it is the love-time of the birds; and as we watch them flying merrily hither and thither in the bright sunshine, we ask ourselves whether we must not have made a great leap on leaving the cold-blooded snakes and tortoises, since now we find ourselves among such merry, warm-hearted, passionate little beings, with their beautiful feathery plumage, their light rapid flight, their love for each other, their skill in nest-building, and their patient care for their little ones. ”

“ Wherever air-breathing creatures can go, there some bird may be found. On the dizzy ledges of inaccessible cliffs, on the wide bosom of the open ocean, on the sandy wastes of the desert, in the tops of the highest trees, on the cloud-capped peaks of the mountains, diving or swimming, flying or soaring, running, perching, darting, or sailing for miles and miles without one moment’s rest, they find their way everywhere, and there is no spot from the icebound countries of the Arctic zone to the warm bright forests of the tropics where they do not penetrate ”

“ It is they who build the most perfect nests, from the rough strong basket-work of the crow or the magpie, to the wren’s thickly-woven ball, or the finches’ matted cups; while in America the Hang-nests weave their lovely pear-shaped homes, and suspend them like fruit from the tips of the branches; and in India and China the Tailor-birds actually sew leaves together with cotton fibre or cobweb threads, which they draw through with their slender bill and strengthen with saliva.
The smaller the bird and the more delicate its feet and bill, the more closely woven, as a rule, is its nest. ”

“ So, too, the dexterous Falcon swoops upon his prey swift as an arrow, his pointed wings striking the air, and then closing at once upon his body, while his long rounded tail guides him in his flight. Who would think that such a powerful and bold robber could have anything in common with the soft feathered owl which sits blinking its large eyes in the hollow of the tree till the twilight falls? ”

“ From almost every country pond, or ditch, or swamp, a chorus of voices rises up in the springtime of the year, calling to us to come and learn how Life has taught her children to pass from the water to the air; for it is then that the frogs lay their eggs, and every tadpole which grows up into a frog carries us through the wonderful history of an animal beginning life as a fish with water-breathing gills, and ending it as a four-legged animal with air-breathing lungs. ”

“ When we see our own house-cat playing with a mouse, striking at it, letting it escape, and at last giving it the final grip, we are watching in miniature the cruel game which is played in the dense jungles of Asia by the tiger with the antelopes, young buffaloes, and other terrified animals. Yet when we see the mother cat caressing her little ones, this too is true to tiger life, for though the father does not watch and care for his children as the lion does, the tigress loves them with the utmost devotion, and attacks all who come near them, dying sooner than forsake her cubs. ”

“ It was in the long long struggle for life that the animals with the largest and strongest horns got the upper hand, that the swiftest horses or antelopes survived and left young ones, that the best climbers baffled their hungry pursuers, while the most intelligent and cautious feeders learned to herd together and watch for danger; while we must remember that it is more often the sickly, worn-out, and diseased animals that fall a prey to the devourers, and their life is ended far less painfully than if they dragged themselves into some hole to die. ”

“ The experience of life has made these little ground-nesting birds very intelligent, since they have had a land as well as a watery home, and the little moor-hen, which, like the rails and crakes, has taken entirely to a freshwater life in ponds, brooks, canals, and rivers, has learned to hide her nest so skilfully, and to dive and swim so cleverly, that even a trained water-spaniel often loses her when close upon her home. ”

“ The common Otter of Europe and America though he moves quickly and actively on land, has webbed toes with only short claws standing out beyond the swimming foot, and he spends the greater part of his life in the river, making his home in a hollow of the bank beneath the overhanging roots of trees. There he may still be seen in many of our English rivers, his soft brown fur shining as he swims along, diving under water for a fish, which he brings out on to the bank to eat, holding it in his fore paws. ”

“ Look at any active fish darting through the water by sharp strokes of its tail,—watch the curved form of a snake as it glides through the grass, or the graceful swan bending his neck as he sails over the lake,—and you will see how easily and smoothly the joints of the backbone must move one upon the other. ”

“ Upon the land the snails and slugs devoured the green foliage, while the vast army of insects filled every nook and cranny in the water, on the land, or in the air. Yes! even among these lower forms we found creatures enough to stock the world over and over again with abundant life, so that even if the octopus had remained the monarch of the sea, and the tiny ant the most intelligent ruler on the land, there would have been no barren space, no uninhabited tracts, except those burning deserts and frozen peaks where life can scarcely exist. ”

“ All this time he is a water animal, but when he rises and flies he is also master of the air, for his strong wings carry him stoutly, so that he can migrate from one pool to another; or in winter, when the pools are frozen, to the open sea. He is by no means the best flyer of his family, and yet he is spread over Europe and North America, and even as far east as Japan, while his ocean-loving cousin, the eider-duck, lines her nest and lays her eggs high up in Arctic latitudes, and dives and swims in the open ocean. ”

“ In a moment his mouth has opened, his tube-like tongue, with clubbed and sticky tip, has darted out and struck the fly, and carried it down his throat, while the chamæleon looks as if he had never moved. It is not difficult to imagine that such a slow-moving animal, whose natural colour is a brownish green like the leaves among which he moves, would often escape unseen from his enemies. And when light falls upon him, his tint changes by the movement of the colour-cells in his skin, which seem to vary according to the colour of the objects around, whenever he is awake and can see them. ”

“ When we once realise that whether in attacking or avoiding an enemy it is in most cases a great advantage to all animals to be hidden from view,347 and that each creature has arrived at this advantage by slow inheritance, so that their colours often exactly answer the purpose, how wonderful becomes the gray tint of the slug, the imitation of bark in the wings of the buff-tip moth, the green and brown hues of the eatable caterpillars, the white coat of the polar bear, and the changing colour of the arctic fox, the ermine, and the ptarmigan, as winter comes on! ”

“ By means of the facts collected by our great countryman and the careful conclusions which he drew from them, we have learned to see that there has been a gradual unfolding of life upon the globe, just as a plant unfolds first the seed-leaves, then the stem, then the leaves, then the bud, the flower, and the fruit; so that though each part has its own beauties and its own appointed work, we cannot say that any stands alone, or could exist without the whole. ”

“ Even the little sparrow, which flits about by the roadside, can laugh at us with his impudent little chirp, as he flies up out of reach to the topmost branch of a tree. And yet a glance at his skeleton will show us that he has the same framework as a reptile, only it is altered to suit his mode of life. ”

“ But the herons remain with us all the year, feeding on shrimps and crabs on the weed-covered shores, or more often in ponds and lakes upon frogs, water-rats, and fish. How patiently you may see a heron stand with his head slightly bent, still and motionless, till a fish passes by! Then quick as a flash of lightning, his head darts forward, impaling or seizing the prey in the strong beak, and he is off to eat it at his leisure. ”

“ Meanwhile the tide of life is flowing on in two other channels, striving ever onwards and upwards. On the one hand, the walking star-fish and sea-urchin push forward into active life under the sea, forming, with their relations, a strange and motley group, but one which could scarcely be moulded into higher and more intelligent beings. On the other hand, the oyster and his comrades, with their curious mantle-working secret protect their soft body within by a shelly covering, and by degrees we arrive at the large army of mollusca, headed by the intelligent cuttle-fish. ”

“ What country boy is there who has not hunted in the mud of the rivers or streams for these bright-eyed eel-like fish, with no fins, and a fringe on back and tail? If you feel about for them in the mud they will often come up clinging to your hand with their round sucker-mouth, while the water trickles out of the seven little holes on each side of their heads. ”

“ If we do this, we shall travel not many miles from the shore in summer, wending our way through shrimps and lobsters, gurnards, cod-fish, soles, and turbot, before we may chance to come across a great Blue shark, with his slaty-coloured back and fins, swimming heavily but strongly through the water, and turning sharply from time to time to seize a passing fish, his white belly gleaming like a flash of light as it comes uppermost, and then disappearing again in the dark water. ”

“ All over our globe, from pole to pole, and from the Indian Ocean round to the east, back to the Indian Ocean again, is one vast world of waters, with inlets and land-locked seas bordering its margins, and rivers pouring into its depths. In the past ages of the world these rivers and coasts and inlets have varied innumerable times, but the great ocean-mother has always been there to bear the increasingly-varied forms in her bosom, and to enable them to wander where best they could preserve life. ”

“ Look at the Tiger as he moves along, crouching to spring upon his prey. Here we have no round barrel-shaped body, with a tight-fitting skin, as in the horse and ox, but a slim slender-waisted animal, which is lithe and nimble, because feeding on nourishing flesh he can do with a small stomach and short digesting tube. So, too, his loose hanging skin, forming a flap under his body, saves him from wounds in his adventurous life, for, when seized by teeth or claw, this skin wrinkles up, so that even if a good grip be taken the tender flesh underneath may escape. ”

“ The lumbering heavy Gorilla of Africa, though higher in the scale, is a cumbersome fellow compared to the nimble little thumbless Spider monkeys of the Amazons, which hang by their bare tipped tails to the branches and to each other, chattering away like a troop of children as they gather the bananas and other fruits, or catch insects and young birds, or fly screaming with fear from the stealthy puma or the fierce eagle. ”

“ A few kinds wander up into fresh water, such as the Ganges and the Amazons, but by far the greater number range all over our northern seas, together with their near relations the dolphins, and the bottle-nosed whales, and the strange narwhal, with its two solitary eye teeth, one only of which grows out as a long tusk. All these roam freely through the vast ocean home, coming into the still bays to bring up their young ones, which they nurse and suckle tenderly, afterwards moving off again in shoals to the open sea. ”

“ And as the song pours through the windpipe there again he can help to give it its soft mellow tones, for while in hoarse-crying birds, like the sea birds and the waders, this tube is long and stiff, in the sweet singing birds it is short, and the bony rings composing it are thin and far apart, with soft delicate membrane between them, which can be shortened or lengthened to modulate the tones. And so we hear them in the springtime pouring forth their full tide of song to tempt a young wife to come and help them to build a nest ”

“ Remember for a moment how weak the lizard’s limbs are, so that his body always drags upon the ground; and then look at the bird’s tight grasp of the bough and the rod-like legs which raise his body above it. Watch him as he beats the air with his wings, rising and sinking, turning and swerving at will, and you will see that he has earned freedom, strength, and active life, by means of the strong muscles which move these legs and wings, and the feathers which provide him with an instrument for beating the air. ”

“ And, indeed, we have come into quite a new life, for now we are going to wander among the conquerors of the air, who have learned to rise far beyond our solid ground, and to soar, like the lark, into the clouds, or, like the eagle, to sail over the topmost crags of the mountains, there to build his solitary eyrie. ”