SIDE LIGHTS ON BIRDS 



It is as a philosopher rather than as a field 

 naturalist that Thompson approaches Nature. 

 Although he properly claims to share her ' ' delicate 

 fellowship " and to have " drawn the bolt of her 

 secrecies " he gives us little in the way of direct 

 personal observation. There are a few refer- 

 ences to falconry, but these point rather to a 

 desire for an illustration than to an interest in the 

 ways of the birds in themselves : — 



" The heavenly Falconer my heart debars. 

 And tames with fearful gloom 

 The haggard to his call." 



" Firm is the man 



Whose falcon soul sits fast, 



And not intends her high sagacious tour 



Or ere the quarry's sighted." 



The rook is one of the few birds mentioned by 

 name : — 



" Rooks in spreading gyres like broken smoke 

 Wheel when some sound their solitude has broke." 



The dove is also referred to : 



' ' Sweet as the low moan that a summer dove 

 Fondles in her warm throat." 



But for the most part a bird is but a bird and 

 we can only guess at the identity of the " mad 

 bird bacchanals " that : — 



' ' Make adventiire of sweet din 

 Till all the forest prosper into song." 



Even the lark that 



" sups its shaken music. 

 An dfin avalanche." 



appears incognito. 



Thompson's landscapes, indeed, are singularly 

 void of animal life and movement although 

 trees and flowers are often named specifically. 



With John Masefield, on the other hand, 

 although he may neglect natural history in some 



154 



