114 THE FINCHES 



surpassing it there is a sort of careless grace, a wild, woodland charm, 

 something in the nature of that "sweet neglect" which " takes" both 

 eye and heart. " Neglect ! " some may cry, but your " sweet neglect " is 

 not that. There is freedom that is what I mean. Some of the moss 

 of it may hang loose in the air a wild, an unstudied effect and yet so 

 dainty withal, one may well ask if aught but the feminine beak could 

 produce it. There is some lack of agreement here. Naumann has but 

 a poor opinion of the goldfinch husband in this respect, 1 but else- 

 where he has won golden ones. 2 Be this as it may, a goldfinch's nest 

 upon its forest bough is a lovely thing to see ; nothing can improve 

 it, except the bird when she sits there. 



Yet there may be those who prefer the siskin's, or who would do so 

 could they see it, for, shrouded amongst the dark, drooping fir-boughs, 

 with their long, beard-like lichens that fall about and envelop it, this 

 is a difficult matter so difficult, indeed, that in days when the 

 truths of science had not so much encroached upon the more pleasing 

 realms of fable and fancy, it was sought to explain it by attributing 

 actual invisibility to an object whose existence, since the birds were 

 seen building, could not be denied. 



But this theory, though satisfactory up to a certain point, did not 

 cover all the ground. It accounted perfectly for the number of 

 failures to find, but since, after all, a siskin's nest sometimes was 

 found, something else was needed to explain this apparent anomaly. 

 It was therefore surmised that this quality of invisibility was not 

 inherent in the nest itself, but must be conferred upon it, as it were, 

 by a certain stone (not more wonderful, after all, than the philosopher's) 

 which the siskin was accustomed to place in it, and that when, either 

 through indifference, or such stones being not very common, it failed 

 to do so, it had then to run the risk of discovery. Even so, the nest 

 might often escape detection through mere natural concealment, as did 

 those of so many other birds, but it was undeniable that such as were 



1 Still he implies that some work is done by him. Sharpe and Dresser (op. cit.) say the 

 female only works at the nest. 



2 Such, at least, is my impression. 



