THE BIRDS AND THE BOOK 11 



surface, while his rapidly vibratin.u wings are 

 made silky and translucent by the sunlight 



PARK SPARROW 

 BEGGING 



passing through 

 them, he appears, 

 indeed, a pretty 

 and even graceful 

 creature. 



But he is, after all, only a 

 common sparrow, a mean repre- 

 sentative of bird life in our midst ; in 

 all the assthetic qualities which make 

 birds charming — beauty of form and 

 colour, grace of motion, and melody 

 — less than the least of the others. 

 Therefore to greatly praise him is to pubhsh 



