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“The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer, but when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.”
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“These words should be ready for instant use by every honest scientist - 'I don't know.”
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“Before we have the complete solution of the whys and wherefores of herding and flocking and schooling, there must be a great deal of uncomfortable climbing and diving, hiding in unpleasant places, getting wet and hot and cramped and weary.”
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“……but work in the field has nothing to do with dignity or with anything except patience, concentration, and eternal vigilance”
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“And so the marvels of nature go on evolving,---wheels within wheels”
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“May the naturalists of to-day realize their opportunity and do their best to preserve to us and to posterity what is left of wild life! If not, let us pity the Nature-lover of 200 years hence!”
― The Bird: its Form and Function
― The Bird: its Form and Function
“The next time you see a wee chickadee, calling contentedly and happily while the air makes you shiver from head to foot, think of the hard-shelled frozen insects passing down his throat, the icy air entering lungs and air-sacs, and ponder a moment on the wondrous little laboratory concealed in his mite of a body; which his wings bear up with so little effort, which his tiny legs support, now hopping along a branch, now suspended from some wormy twig.
Can we do aught but silently marvel at this alchemy? A little bundle of muscle and blood, which in this freezing weather can transmute frozen beetles and zero air into a happy, cheery little Black-capped Chickadee, as he names himself, whose bravery shames us, whose trustfulness warms our hearts!
And the next time you raise your gun to needlessly take a feathered life, think of the marvellous little engine which your lead will stifle forever; lower your weapon and look into the clear bright eyes of the bird whose body equals yours in physical perfection, and whose tiny brain can generate a sympathy, a love for its mate, which in sincerity and unselfishness suffers little when compared with human affection.”
― The Bird: its Form and Function
Can we do aught but silently marvel at this alchemy? A little bundle of muscle and blood, which in this freezing weather can transmute frozen beetles and zero air into a happy, cheery little Black-capped Chickadee, as he names himself, whose bravery shames us, whose trustfulness warms our hearts!
And the next time you raise your gun to needlessly take a feathered life, think of the marvellous little engine which your lead will stifle forever; lower your weapon and look into the clear bright eyes of the bird whose body equals yours in physical perfection, and whose tiny brain can generate a sympathy, a love for its mate, which in sincerity and unselfishness suffers little when compared with human affection.”
― The Bird: its Form and Function
“The marsh, to him who enters it in a receptive mood, holds, besides mosquitoes and stagnation, - melody, the mystery of unknown waters, and the sweetness of Nature undisturbed by man.”
― The Log of the Sun a Chronicle of Nature's Year
― The Log of the Sun a Chronicle of Nature's Year
