The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: and beyond comparison the noblest passion that stirs their feathered
breasts.
'T is true, the time of mating is their prettiest season; but it is
very short. How little we should know of the drama of their airy
life if we had eyes only for this brief scene! Their finest
qualities come out in the patient cares that protect the young in
the nest, in the varied struggles for existence through the changing
year, and in the incredible heroisms of the annual migrations.
Herein is a parable.
It may be observed further, without fear of rebuke, that the
behaviour of the different kinds of birds during the prevalence of
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