RUSTIC SOUNDS 9 



quail, who should be a wholesome lesson to all 

 wrynecks. I should hke to hear him as Schubert 

 has him : 



" Sitzend im Grunen 

 Mit Halmen umhullt," 



and singing "Lobe Gott" all day in the rhythm 

 with which the oboe praises God in the Pastoral 

 Symphony. 



Another bird, whom I take for a contented 

 fellow, is the green woodpecker, for he goes through 

 life laughing, but I am not quite sure that I 

 should hke his taste in jokes. He is always 

 associated in my mind with a passage in a letter of 

 my father's : " At last I fell fast asleep on the grass, 

 and awoke with a chorus of birds singing around 

 me ; and squirrels running up the trees, and some 

 woodpeckers laughing, and it was as pleasant and 

 rural a scene as ever I saw, and I did not care one 

 penny how any of the beasts or birds had been 

 formed."! 



There are many noises rather than notes which 

 are most pleasant to hear. The invisible indust- 

 rious corncrake, whose persistent cry comes from 

 nowhere and everywhere at once. The harsh 

 warning of the jay who seems to say "Man ! man ! " 

 as he skulks off when his wood is invaded. The 

 rough noise of the ox-eye sharpening his Httle saw, 

 and many others. 



Then I must not forget the noise of birds in 

 flocks, ranging from the familiar wTangle of sparrows 

 noisily going to roost, to the mysterious sound of 



* Life and Letters, Vol. ii.. p. 114. 



