THE BIRDS AND THE BOOK 



11 



surface, while his rapidly vibrating wings are 

 made silky and translucent by the sunlight 



PARK SPARROW 

 BEGGING 



passing through 

 them, he appears, 

 indeed, a pretty 

 and even graceful 

 creature. 



But he is, after all, only a 

 common sparrow, a mean repre- 

 sentative of bird life in our midst ; in 

 all the aesthetic qualities which make 

 birds charming beauty of form and 

 colour, grace of motion, and melody 

 less than the least of the others. 

 Therefore to greatly praise him is to publish 



