Anglesey 



with a tree-creeper. I would tell him to cease cork- 

 screwing his way up brown old trunks with his nose 

 for ever to the bark ; to try some other way of 

 passing from one tree to another than his cast-iron 

 method of dropping in a slanting line from the top 

 of one bole to the base of the next, uttering his 

 dolorous squeak en route ; in short, to cease from 

 being a creeper for a while, and to come out and 

 have a good fly in the open, then return and, sitting 

 in the sunlight, shout his three or four notes over 

 and over again until he was famished for a meal. 

 The grubs are too much with us, I would tell him ; 

 but if he would give them the go-by for a few hours, 

 he would gain an appetite almost spiritual to perceive 

 flavours in atoms, as a fresh palate will tell your 

 vintages. But man's hands are full enough of his 

 own species, and an apostolate to tree-creepers 

 scarcely comes within the purview of the present 

 plan of salvation. 



241 



