Page:Birdcraft-1897.djvu/74

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HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS.

There may be also in the study of birds a sentiment that is born of fact and accuracy, provable by all scientific requirements, which will render the bird-quest a recreation, and not a mental discipline; being a bridge where those who can go no further, may rest and enjoy intelligently the beauty and music of the bird world. Of course a little learning may be a dangerous thing, but it is only so when we overestimate the extent of our limited scope, and try to speak a language of which we only know the alphabet.

Nature is to be studied with the eyes of the heart, as well as of the microscope, and ever so scanty a knowledge of our feathered brothers helps us to feel that the realms of Nature are very near to the human heart and its sympathies, and that "the truth of Nature is a part of the truth of God: to him who does not search it out, darkness; to him who does, infinity."

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