142 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



or sound may have for us is given by Gilbert White in 

 his description of an insect. "The shrilHng of the field 

 cricket," he says, "though sharp and stridulous, yet 

 marvellously delights some hearers, filling their minds 

 with a train of summer ideas of everything that is rural, 

 verdurous, and joyous." There can be no such "train 

 of ideas" nor any vague sense of happiness due to asso- 

 ciation caused by a bird's voice to one whose life or its 

 early, most happy, and impressible period has been spent 

 apart from rural scenes. The voice may be agreeable 

 if the quality is good, but it is expressionless. 



To others, especially to those who have lived with and 

 have been lovers of Nature from the cradle, even a slight 

 bird sound may produce a magical effect, and I here 

 recall an experience of the kind which I had two or 

 three summers ago at Harrogate. 



I should say, judging from its fine appearance and 

 the numbers of fine people frequenting it, that Harro- 

 gate must be highly esteemed by town-loving folk; it 

 is a parasitic town nevertheless, and on that account 

 alone distasteful to me; and to make matters worse I 

 there found myself in a numerous company of the sick 

 — pilgrims from all parts of the land to that pool in 

 which they fondly hoped they would be cured of their 

 ills. Perhaps they did not all hope for a complete cure, 

 as there was a very large proportion of well-nourished, 

 middle-aged, and elderly gentlemen with hard red or 

 port-wine faces and watery eyes who walked or hobbled 

 painfully, some with the aid of two sticks, others with 

 crutches, while many were seen in bath-chairs. I took 



