THE DANDY IN GOLD 



In the making of the swift, it is as if evolution 

 had put all its force, aeons of intense and concen- 

 trated force, into Speed ; in the making of the 

 wagtail, that force seems to have been spent on 

 Beauty. The swift has beauty, too ; but there 

 the beauty lies in the marvellous fitness for the aerial 

 work a swift is meant for. The wagtails have 

 abundant beauty, beauty of form and carriage and 

 colour and shading, beyond that of mere fitness for 

 wagtail work. True, wagtails are finely fitted for 

 their way of life, but they are far more than that. 

 It is as if evolution, in fashioning the wagtails, was 

 afire with the sense and longing for beauty. If we 

 see in evolution the utilitarian in the tapering and 

 planing of the swift for speed or in the marvellous 

 fashioning of the salmon for spring, might we not 

 imagine evolution as the aesthete in the fashioning 

 and finishing of a wagtail ? 



Think of evolution fining and refining the figure 

 of a wagtail till it is flawless to the eye. Then 

 think of the exquisite additional touches, colour 



