Chapter XI 



MIDSUMMER MEMORANDA 



THE wave of silence which submerges 

 bird music almost entirely in our cli- 

 mate, except in rarely cool weather, 

 by the end of the wheat harvest, is wont 

 to throw one back more or less upon those 

 earlier days when there was a call from 

 every meadow and a song from every tree. 

 Moreover, we are fortunate if there are 

 for us in truth some such unforgotten hours 

 to which we may revert at this season; 

 and doubly so if we retain any clear mental 

 memoranda gathered in them which may 

 still be marshaled in good order and 

 jotted down; as most of the very birds 

 themselves seem now to disappear along 

 with their music; and we should conse- 

 quently, if debarred from retrospection, 

 have often but a dull and lonely time of 

 it indeed. 



[136] 



