1 66 COUNTRY ESSAYS. 



mankind. Apart, however, from the country and the home 

 life of the parlour, dwellers in cities may discover many traits 

 of bird character evoked by civilisation amongst the street 

 pigeons and gutter-haunting sparrows. An ornithological 

 disciple of Mr. Darwin may thus deduce much amusing lore 

 concerning the prominence which domestication affords to the 

 evil qualities of the latter birds, while it fosters the peacefulness, 

 trust, and graceful tenderness peculiar to the former. Curious 

 speculations, not dissimilar to man's interminable disquisitions 

 on predestination and free will, must also arise among the 

 philosophical societies of bird life when they note the facts that 

 passer domesticus, always a rogue at his best, rapidly deteriorates 

 into a smoke-begrimed impudent but self-possessed thief in our 

 great cities, evidently from his admiring imitation of the rough ; 

 whereas in crowded Whitechapel, amongst costermongers, dog- 

 stealers, and the like, or on the gilded eaves of the countess's 

 boudoir, a pigeon never forgets its innate gentility. We must 

 not, however, lose ourselves in ornithological metaphysics. 



It is easy to see several reasons which account for the popu- 

 larity of ornithology as a rural recreation. In the first place it 

 can be pursued everywhere. Even the barest common has its 

 birds, and yet there is just sufficient diversity amongst the birds 

 which haunt similar localities in different counties, to interest 

 the mind and induce philosophical reflection on the causes of 

 this variation. Indeed the number of problems which the study 

 of birds presents is another reason why it is so generally 

 fascinating. The mere dilettante can amuse himself in solving 

 these, while the professed student finds many which baffle his 

 closest scrutiny. The migrations of swallows, for instance, were 

 until recent years beset by the same haziness which attended 

 them in Gilbert White's mind. People, sensible enough on 

 other points, gravely affirmed that the approach of winter drove 

 the hirundines to their hibernating quarters, hollow trees or the 

 bottoms of rivers. The claims of overlapping species, of partial 



