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CHAPTER VI 



' THE FRINGE OF THE MOOR ' 



MR. JOHN GUILLE MILLAIS has in his delightful 

 book, ' Game Birds and Shooting Sketches,' given a 

 description of bird and animal life in the early morn- 

 ing on the lower edges of the moorland, and this, 

 with many other passages in the work, I commend to 

 those who love the poetry of nature. A son of the 

 great painter whose tender and masterly touch alone 

 seems able to grasp the realities and idealities, the 

 romances or complexities, which go to make up the life 

 of this age, he develops, as one of the first naturalists 

 of to-day, a convincing admiration for nature and a 

 brilliant power of drawing birds inheritances of his 

 father's talents. 



From Sir John, my earliest master in outdoor 

 painting, 1 I am not ashamed to have stolen the title 

 of this chapter, in order to describe the picturesque 



1 I believe I may claim the honour of being the only pupil 

 Sir J. Millais ever had alas ! for too short a time. 



