190 COUNTRY ESSAYS. 



catch the air with its wings ? The common sandpiper whistles 

 in front, the grey wagtail struts under the overhanging bank, 

 the water-hen and coot paddle across to the opposite tangle of 

 sedges. Auceps will here meet Piscator Oh ! that we could 

 overhear their colloquy as each extols his craft. 



Already the roar of the ocean begins to sound in our ears, 

 and the screams of its fowl overhead wheeling round before the 

 coming storm warn us to conclude our walk. In pursuing this 

 fascinating study of our native birds, it should always be re- 

 membered that kindness and protection form the surest road to 

 their hearts. It is wonderful what secrets of bird-life may be 

 extracted by these pass-keys to their confidence. These 

 humane virtues have given rise to a beautiful belief in the Val 

 St. Veronique, which is not altogether unknown in Oriental 

 and North American superstitions, that certain wise and elderly 

 persons can enter into and understand the language of the 

 birds. " But there is one peculiarity in the Val St. Veronique,"* 

 says Mr. Hamerton. "He who knows the bird-language is 

 forbidden by the popular superstition to communicate it to any 

 one until he lies upon his death-bed, when he may teach it to 

 one member of his family, who, of course, is bound by the same 

 law. Now, as it generally happens that a man lying upon his 

 death-bed has other things to think of than the transmission of 

 bird-lore," it is not wonderful that the secret gradually becomes 

 known to fewer men in these degenerate days. We have at- 

 tempted to indicate some methods by which lovers of nature 

 may possibly recover the lost knowledge. With birds, as with 

 everything else, love always begets love. 



* In the Portfolio for 1874, p. 160. 



