HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS 83 



with her son from London. They passed some 

 gleaners in a field ; whereat the lady remarked that 

 they were the first she had seen that year. " They 

 are the first/' said the youth, " that I have ever seen 

 in my life." Unhappy youth ! 



The habits of certain birds seem to have been 

 indelibly impressed upon his memory from his 

 earliest years, when he delighted to observe them. 

 Of these the Chaffinch was one ; and from that fact, 

 as well, perhaps, as from its extreme tameness and 

 cheery voice, he used to confess that, of all birds, it 

 was his favourite. Of its song he wrote : " There 

 is something very cheerful in the common notes of 

 the Chaffinch, and as harbinging the return of spring, 

 it is always hailed with welcome by the observer of 

 the sights and sounds of the country." The Snipe, 

 too, was connected in an especial way with his 

 earliest recollections, and of this bird he says that 

 there is none other which " gives you more the idea 

 of a wild-fowl." Once, and only once, did he ever 

 see one perched in a tree, and that, too, was in the 

 old coaching days, when travelling between South- 

 ampton and Exeter. 



Rugged mountain country, as we may gather 

 from his description of the haunts of the Ptarmigan, 

 had a charm for him as well as homelier and more 

 pastoral scenes. The abode of these birds, whom he 

 calls true " Children of the Mist," is to be found in 

 " the upper parts and summits of the highest moun- 

 tains, where utter desolation reigns around, and 

 Nature is seen in the most wild and savage beauty." 



