144 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



it is heard. Yet it makes a world of difference even 

 in the songs of species which we love best for their 

 intrinsic beauty. The curious thing is that after 

 hearing a particular bird music in exceptionally 

 favourable circumstances the hearer should become 

 convinced that this musician is the best. It may 

 not be at its best on the next occasion of hearing 

 it, or ever again, but the image of the intense plea- 

 sure it once produced persists in his mind and the 

 delusion remains. 



There are states of the atmosphere when dis- 

 tant objects seem near and all nature takes on 

 a rare loveliness which makes it like a new earth. 

 There are states, too, when bird sounds seem purer, 

 brighter, more resonant than at other times, in some 

 instances surprising us with new and mysteriously 

 beautiful qualities. 



After copious rains in summer there is often a 

 tender silveriness in the sunlit air, the effect of abun- 

 dant moisture; and on such occasions we sometimes 

 note a difference in bird songs and cries, as if they, 

 too, like all else, had been washed and purified; and 

 just as we inhale the new delicious air into our lungs 

 we take the new melody into our souls. In this case 

 the exhilarating effect of the newly washed and 

 brightened air and sight of the blue sky after the 

 depressing cloud has passed undoubtedly count for 

 much; the responsive physical change in us acts 

 on the sense organs, and they, too, appear to have 

 been washed and made clean and able to render truer 

 and brighter images than before. 



