AUTUMN, 191 2 285 



bird, robin-like in appearance, but darker and without 

 the red waistcoat, flitting in a sprightly manner about 

 the old crumbling walls. By-and-by his flittings and 

 little dashes after passing flies brought him to a perch 

 within five yards of me ; and sitting there, curiously 

 eyeing me, droping his wings and flirting a broad tail, 

 he stood revealed — a black redstart ! A happy ex- 

 perience : in all that empty desolate place I could not 

 have met with a more engaging stranger, nor one more 

 friendly. For he is first cousin to our pretty firetail 

 with a sweet little summer song, only our redstart is 

 a shy bird, whereas this black redstart was tamer than 

 any robin. I took it that he was resting a day on the 

 dunes after his perilous flight over the North Sea, 

 and that he came from Holland, where he is common 

 and breeds fearlessly in and on the houses. That is 

 why he was so confident, also why he eyed me so curi- 

 ously, for he knew by the look of me that I was not a 

 Dutchman. More than that he did not know, and he 

 had no letter tied to his wing ; nevertheless, he had 

 a greeting and a message for me from that country and 

 that people, who, among the nations of the Continent, 

 are most like the English in kindness to animals as well 

 as in some other things, but are better than we are in 

 their treatment of birds. 



On another day I stole into the pine-wood growing 

 on the sandhills by the sea, and in the heart of the wood 

 came to a deep basin-like depression in the sand, and 

 there I seated myself on the rim or margin among the 

 long grey marram grass, with the dark red pillars of 



