BLACKCAP WARBLER. 85 



in painting them green when I observed a respectable- 

 looking young lad coming up the avenue ; laying down 

 the paint-brush, which had already done some execution 

 on my own apparel, I awaited his approach. " Have I 

 the pleasure of addressing Dr. Benson?" said he. I 

 stated my conviction that he had. " I was at your 

 lecture the other evening," said he, " and I want no 

 reward for telling you where at least one of the birds 

 you named, the Blackcap, is certain to be found ; for I 

 have often listened to it there." " And where is that ? " 

 I rejoined. " Near St. Valerie," said he, " on the road 

 from Bray to the Dargle. I have often stood on the 

 bridge and heard it sing." I thanked him heartily, and 

 said that I would go out almost immediately, in the 

 hope of hearing it too. And then entering into some 

 conversation with my kind informant, I said, " I suppose 

 that you are engaged at business during the day." He 

 said, " Yes ; that he had come up from the County Cork 

 to the great city." And then I went on : " In what line 

 are you then ? " He answered at once, " In the same 

 line as you are." It occurred to me that he meant that 

 as I was a poor schoolmaster, he, too, was something in 

 the scholastic way ; but to make sure, I added, " And 

 what line is that ? " " The oil and colour line" said he ; 

 "for I am an apprentice in Brooks and Thomas's" one 

 of the largest Dublin houses engaged in the painting 

 and papering business. The wit and readiness of the 

 answer struck me as irresistibly humorous, as I stood 

 with my paint-pot and brush at my feet, and the stains 

 of green paint here and there on my face, and hands, 

 and clothes ; and I can never hear or think of the 

 Blackcap since without recalling my young friend, 



