i82 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



or three years, and this was the first time he had 

 elected to spend the night at Yeovil. He had 

 nothing more to do in the place, having finished 

 his business early in the afternoon. He could have 

 got to Bristol or gone on to Exeter ; he was staying 

 only to hear the nightingale. He had never heard it, 

 and he didn't want to finish his rounds on this occasion 

 and go back north without that long-desired experience. 

 These rough fellows from the north, especially from 

 Yorkshire and Lancashire, are always surprising us 

 with their enthusiasm, their aesthetic feeling ! One 

 Sunday morning not long ago I was on the cathedral 

 green at Salisbury watching the pigeons and daws on 

 the vast pile, when I noticed a young working man 

 with his wife and child sitting on the grass by 

 the elm-trees. They had a luncheon basket with 

 them, and were evidently out for the day. By- 

 and-by the young man got up and strolled over 

 to where I was standing, looking up at the birds 

 soaring round the spire, and, entering into conver* 

 sation with me he told me that he was a zinc- 

 worker from Sheffield, that he had been sent south to 

 work at Tidworth in the erection of zinc and iron build- 

 ings for the Army. When he saw Salisbury Cathedral 

 and heard the choir he v/as so delighted that he resolved 

 to spend his Sundays and any day he had off at the 

 cathedral. He was musical himself, and belonged to 

 some musical society in his own town. He talked of 

 his love of music with sparkling eyes, and while he 

 talked he continued watching the birds, the daws sweep- 



