THE YELLOW VALLEY 43 



&quot;Very likely; but I don t feel as if I par 

 ticularly had to see black duck to-day.&quot; 

 &quot;What do you have to see?&quot; 

 &quot;Nothing special. Just plain spring.&quot; 

 That is the charm of the Yellow Valley. 

 It offers no spectacular inducements, no bar 

 gain-counter attractions in the shape of new 

 arrivals among the birds or flowers. One re 

 turns from it with no trophies of any kind, 

 nothing to put down in one s notebook, if 

 one keeps a notebook, from which industry 

 may I be forever preserved! But it is a place 

 to go to and be quiet, which is good for us all, 

 especially in the springtime, when there is so 

 much going on in the world, and especially 

 lately, since &quot;nature study&quot; has driven peo 

 ple into being so unceasingly busy when they 

 are outdoors. Opera-glasses and bird books 

 have their place, no doubt, in the advance of 

 mankind, but they often seem to me nothing 

 but more machinery coming in between us 

 and the real things. Perhaps it was once true 

 that when people went out to view &quot;nature,&quot; 

 they did not see enough. Now, I fancy, they 

 see too much; they cannot see the spring for 

 the birds. Their motto is that of Rikki-Tikki, 



