THE BOOK: AN APOLOGY 3 



know much about the subject, but I should have 

 thought you had already told us all you know about 

 it. I had hoped you had finished with that subject 

 now. There are so many others — Man, for instance, 

 who is of more account than many sparrows. Well, 

 all I can say is, I'm sorry." 



If he had known birds, I doubt that he would have 

 expressed regret at my choice of a subject ; for 

 many as are the observers of birds and writers on 

 them in the land, there are yet a far greater number 

 who do not properly know them, and the joy they 

 are or may be to us. 



The people who discover birds are now common 

 with us, and though the story of their discoveries is 

 somewhat boring, it amuses at the same time. A lady 

 of your acquaintance tells you the result of putting 

 some crumbs on a window-sill — the sudden appear- 

 ance to feed on the crumbs of a quaint fairy-like 

 little bird which was not a sparrow, nor robin, nor any 

 of those common ones, but a sparkling lively little 

 creature with a crest, all blue above and yellow be- 

 neath — very beautiful to look at, and fantastic in its 

 actions. A bird she has never seen before though 

 all her life has been passed in the country. Was it 

 some rare visitor from a distant land, where birds 

 have a brighter plumage and livelier habits than 

 ours ? 



Two or three years ago a literary friend wrote to 

 me from the north of England, where he had gone, 

 for a holiday and was staying at a farm, to say that 



