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Read Ebook: The Bird by Michelet Jules Giacomelli Hector Illustrator
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Ebook has 820 lines and 74472 words, and 17 pages
Illustrator: Hector Giacomelli
Transcriber's note:
Some presumed printer's errors were corrected. The following is a list of changes made from the original. The first line shows the original text; the second line is the corrected text as it appears in this e-book.
A. E A. E.
and. thou and, thou
resemblance resemblance.
Page 14 Page 74
Don Jean Don Juan
THE BIRD
JULES MICHELET.
LONDON:
T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK.
To Madame Michelet.
THE BIRD--THE INSECT--THE SEA.
Translator's Preface.
"L'Oiseau," or "The Bird," was first published in 1856. It has since been followed by "L'Insecte" and "La Mer;" the three works forming a trilogy which few writers have surpassed in grace of style, beauty of description, and suggestiveness of sentiment. "L'Oiseau" may be briefly described as an eloquent defence of the Bird in its relation to man, and a poetical exposition of the attractiveness of Natural History. It is animated by a fine and tender spirit, and written with an inimitable charm of language.
A. E.
Contents.
PART FIRST.
THE EGG, 63
THE POLE--AQUATIC BIRDS, 71
THE WING, 81
THE FIRST FLUTTERINGS OF THE WING, 91
TRIUMPH OF THE WING--THE FRIGATE BIRD, 101
THE SHORES--DECAY OF CERTAIN SPECIES, 111
THE HERONRIES OF AMERICA--WILSON, THE ORNITHOLOGIST, 121
THE COMBAT--THE TROPICAL REGIONS, 131
PURIFICATION, 143
DEATH--BIRDS OF PREY , 153
PART SECOND.
THE LIGHT--THE NIGHT, 171
STORM AND WINTER--MIGRATIONS, 181
HARMONIES OF THE TEMPERATE ZONE, 205
THE BIRD AS THE LABOURER OF MAN, 213
LABOUR--THE WOODPECKER, 223
THE SONG, 235
THE NEST--ARCHITECTURE OF BIRDS, 247
THE COMMUNITIES OF BIRDS--ESSAYS AT A REPUBLIC, 257
EDUCATION, 265
THE NIGHTINGALE--ART AND THE INFINITE, 277
CONCLUSION, 297
ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES, 311
THE BIRD.
How the Author was led to the Study of Nature.
To my faithful friend, the Public, who has listened to me for so long a period without disfavour, I owe a confession of the peculiar circumstances which, while not leading me altogether astray from history, have induced me to devote myself to the natural sciences.
The book which I now publish may be described as the offspring of the domestic circle and the home fireside. It is from our hours of rest, our afternoon conversations, our winter readings, our summer gossips, that this book, if it be a book, has been gradually evolved.
Two studious persons, naturally reunited after a day's toil, put together their gleanings, and refreshed their hearts by this closing evening feast.
Am I saying that we have had no other assistance? To make such a statement would be unjust, ungrateful. The domesticated swallows which lodged under our roof mingled in our conversation. The homely robin, fluttering around me, interjected his tender notes, and sometimes the nightingale suspended it by her solemn music.
The burden of the time, life, labour, the violent fluctuations of our era, the dispersion of a world of intelligence in which we lived, and to which nothing has succeeded, weighed heavily upon me. The arduous toils of history found occasional relaxation in friendly instruction. These pauses, however, are only periods of silence. Where shall we seek repose or moral invigoration, if not of nature?
The mighty eighteenth century, which included a thousand years of struggle, rested at its setting on the amiable and consoling, though scientifically feeble book of Bernardin de St. Pierre. It ended with that pathetic speech of Ramond's: "So many irreparable losses lamented in the bosom of nature!"
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