Closely interwoven with Burns's feelings for natural beauty is his sympathy with animals. The frequency of passages of pathos on the sufferings of beasts and birds may be in part due to the influence of Sterne, but in the main its origin is not literary but is an expression of a tender heart and a lifelong friendly intercourse. In this relation Burns most often allows his sentiment to come to the edge of sentimentality, yet in fairness it must be said that he seldom crosses the line. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he had no need to force the note; it was his instinct both as a farmer and as a lover of animals to think, when he heard the storm rise, how it would affect the lower creation.
List'ning the doors and winnocks rattle, windows
I thought me on the ourie cattle, shivering
Or silly sheep, wha bide this brattle onset
O' winter war,
And thro' the drift, deep-lairing, sprattle -sinking, scramble
Beneath a scar.
Ilk happing bird, wee, helpless thing! Each hopping
That, in the merry months o' spring,