152 WILD BIRDS 



of an old-gold colour. Some of the tops of the trees 

 have grown thin of leaf, and the dull and gloomy 

 green is beginning to disappear. 



Against the faintest blue of the sky to the south 

 i he great tower of Parliament is proudly set. Above 

 this scene the air is charged with starlings, con- 

 stantly splitting up into parties and constantly 

 re-uniting, and again and again going through 

 these beautiful exercises on high. There is no doubt 

 about the fineness of this' scene ; and there is this 

 remarkable feature about it not a single man or 

 woman is included in the view ; it is as free of the 

 human element, though in the heart of London, as 

 the most lonely heath or wold in the country. 

 But this scene can only be got from the upper part 

 of a house ; in the park itself the thing is lost or 

 undiscovered. 



THE POPPY'S NOD 



The humanising of Nature is bad or good accord- 

 ing to the way it is done. Where done right it can 

 be wise and excellent. Take the opening love scene 

 in "The Light that Failed." Nothing could be 

 happier than the way Mr. Kipling humanises the 

 yellow poppy which is represented in the cliff scene 

 as nodding its head with approval when the boy 

 kisses the girl and there is the true touch of genius 

 in literature ! Mr. Hardy, in a different spirit, has 

 often humanised Nature endued forms and scenes 

 in Nature with a personality. He humanises Egdon 

 Heath in " The Return of the Native." There is 



