Northern Observations of Inland Birds 239 



the ear, and alas ! — how often we find a counterpart to 

 the things of wild nature in the world of men and women. 

 Amidst the dazzle of the footlights, when for an hour 

 my soul was young, amidst all the painted glory of a 

 transient world, I loved her till she sang, and then — then, 

 perhaps, the limelight glamour faded, and one bethought 

 oneself of old material George, who will take one's hat 

 and umbrella no matter what the hour, and no matter 

 what the weather will remark : ** It's a fine night, sir." 

 It is left to the drab little sisters of life to sing life's sweetest 

 songs, and they perhaps need no reflected glory in their 

 garb. 



Yet whether to the eye or the ear the earth is beautified, 

 each does its part which we have no right to undervalue, 

 and to see a kingfisher is to record its passing to one's 

 friends. One may not hear the sweetest song unless, 

 like that of the nightingale, it be sung when others are 

 silent, or like that of the skylight, it flood the heavens, 

 solitary and alone ; but one cannot miss the kingfisher 

 as he passes like a ray of light across one's field of vision. 

 In a moment he is gone, but the startHng record is traced 

 across one's mind — the most brilliantly attired of all our 

 wild birds has passed ! 



Were the song of the kingfisher as bright and pleasing 

 as his looks, he would probably have suffered less by the 

 activities of those who prefer a mummy to a living thing, 

 but since the bird has little but its bright plumage to 

 recommend it, and that, to a degree, can be preserved 

 in a glass case, the most beautiful of our wild birds not 

 uncommonly ends his days there. The plumage fades 

 immediately life is extinct, but even in its faded shades 

 it is nevertheless very pleasing to behold, shot with radiant 

 shades of blue or green in accordance with the angle of 

 the light. It is, nevertheless, a morbid sense which can 

 see beauty in a stuflFed thing, and the sight of a stuffed 



