82 FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS 



touches ; here is a happy description of a country 

 scene, there a quotation from a favourite classic, 

 or, again, you may suddenly meet a passage be- 

 tokening the author's genuine and hearty sense of 

 humour. 



As may be supposed, therefore, not a few traits in 

 the character of the author himself may be gleaned 

 from a careful reading of the six volumes which 

 comprise the history. Not only is his power of 

 observation and description of bird-life made evi- 

 dent, but we catch many a glimpse of the inner 

 nature of him whose home has been spoken of as 

 the 'Selborne of the North.' His deep religious 

 feeling is also repeatedly brought out, and the 

 natural kindness and humanity of his heart made 

 plain to the reader ; and not only so, but his more 

 mundane tastes are now and again unfolded to us. 

 His intense love of the country ; its familiar sights, 

 sounds, and fragrances ; the hold that its beauties 

 had over him ; the pleasant reminiscences of the 

 days of his boyhood, when he caught the orange- 

 tips, chased the clouded-yellows, or threw the fly on 

 the bank of the trout-stream these glimpses of the 

 author himself seem to brighten and give additional 

 interest to the pages of the volumes. He had a 

 sort of compassion for those whose lot was cast in 

 the towns, as for the youth of whom he told in his 

 account of the White Owl, when they were travel- 

 ling together over the Dorsetshire Downs on the 

 top of a stage-coach in the olden days. Sitting 

 near him was a lady going down to Devonshire 



