78 FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS 



hardiest bird that is exposed to the damaging attacks 

 of the two weird sisters, cold and hunger, you will 

 see the Dunnock flirting about some low bush in 

 the splendid sunshine that succeeds the bitter blasts 

 which have come and gone, and warbling its unpre- 

 tending little lay, as if to show that an even and 

 quiet temper is that which will best sustain under 

 the most adverse circumstances of life. Now it has 

 come down upon the snow, and its tiny feet move 

 nimbly over the crystal surface, its tail quickly 

 moved up and down the while ; now it stops for a 

 few moments, and now hops on again, and now is 

 gone in company with its mate, pursuing or pur- 

 sued. Or, half hopping, half walking its usual gait 

 it approaches the door in search of a few chance 

 crumbs, which, if you are charitably disposed, you 

 will have placed there for any feathered pensioners 

 whom the inclemency of the season may compel 

 to a more intimate acquaintance than they would 

 otherwise have chosen." 



Fond as he was of music, there was none which 

 charmed him more than the notes of the birds. 

 Difficult, nay impossible, though many of them are 

 to describe in black and white, he delighted to allude 

 to them in his treatise, bringing back as they did 

 old associations and pleasant recollections of boy- 

 hood. Each had its own peculiarity and charm. 

 Even those birds which are not generally deemed 

 great songsters had for him something pleasant to 

 give forth from their throats. For instance, of the 

 note of the Great-Tit or Oxeye he said : " I know 



