152 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



us like a sound of subdued and happy laughter* 

 In London itself this merriment of Nature never 

 irritates ; it is so much finer and more aerial in 

 character than the gross jarring noises of the street, 

 that it is a relief to listen to it, and it is like melody* 

 In the quiet suburbs it sounds much louder and 

 without intermission* And going further afield, in 

 woods, gardens, hedges, hamlets, towns every- 

 where there is the same running, rippling sound of 

 the omnipresent sparrow, and it becomes mono- 

 tonous at last* We have too much of the sparrow* 

 But we are to blame for that* He is the unskilled 

 worker that Nature has called in to do the work 

 of skilled hands, which we have foolishly turned 

 away* He is willing enough to take it all on himself ; 

 his energy is great; he bungles away without 

 ceasing; and being one of a joyous temperament, 

 he whistles and sings in his tuneless fashion at his 

 work, until, like the grasshopper of Ecclesiastes, 

 he becomes a burden* For how tiring are the sight 

 and sound of grasshoppers when one journeys many 

 miles and sees them incessantly rising like a sounding 

 cloud before his horse, and hears their shrill notes 

 all day from the wayside I Yet how pleasant to listen 

 to their minstrelsy in the green summer foliage, where 

 they are not too abundant I We can have too much 

 of anything, however charming it may be in itself* 

 Those who live where scores of humming-birds are 



