MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



farmers call bean - bugs. We must be 

 philosophical, my dear sir ; we must be 

 philosophical. There's a give-and-take in 

 these affairs, you may depend upon it." 



He ruffled his neck as he spoke, and I 

 observed it was marked by a conspicuous 

 black band I had never before noticed. 



" That's a pretty cravat of yours," I in- 

 terposed, just to change the subject. 



" Yes, it is pretty," he admitted, swelling 

 himself out a bit as he said it. " Our women 

 don't have them, you know, nor the young 

 ones either. This beautiful decoration is 

 the peculiar glory and special distinction of 

 the adult cock-sparrow." And anything 

 cockier than he looked at that moment it 

 would be hard to imagine. 



It occurred to me as he spoke that I had 

 seldom seen a slenderer form of masculine 

 adornment on which to pride one's self, till I 

 suddenly recollected that a black moustache 

 on a human face must be as relatively in- 

 conspicuous to any other species ; and I 

 234 



