JUNE 145 



of an intellect as tender as it was powerful. The device 

 consisted of the master's initials, encircled with a wreath 

 of LinncecL borealis', beneath it, as legend, the simple 

 confession : ' Tantus amor florum ! ' While you linger 

 in these woods, or wander out upon the rocks above, 

 where the great saxifrage shines afar like the apex et 

 cognita canities of Stilicho, or the snowy plume of Henri 

 Quatre, you will hear the voices of many birds the field- 

 fare, the wryneck, the homely chaffinch, and the ring- 

 ousel, with his ' chink-chink.' Even the blackbird is here 

 and there : how different his environment from that of 

 our friend in Kensington Gardens ! But hark ! What is 

 that ominous sound from the den near the waterfall 

 half-growl, half-moan ? They have told you such creepy 

 tales about bears in this dal (was it not upon this very 

 Hoass mountain that a couple of bears drove fifty-seven 

 sheep over a precipice in a single night ?), that your 

 thoughts may turn to the quickest line of retreat. But 

 that voice, so full of menace to minor mammals, need 

 have none for you, for it comes from the great eagle owl, 

 of his race the unchallenged king. 



XXXVI 



It would save some exertion, oral and manual, to have 

 printed answers ready to hand or post to in- 

 quirers upon certain points in natural history. 

 Questions upon these points recur with as inevitable 

 certainty, and with almost equal frequency, as comments 

 upon the weather. One of them comes among my letters 

 this morning. 'Can you tell me/ asks a lady corre- 

 spondent, ' what bird says " coo-eek, coo-eek," a short, 

 sharp cry, when the shades of night are falling ? Not a 



