INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC 107 



it is of the air aerial, of the Fen native ; and like most 

 notes heard in the wild, the scraping of a grasshopper s 

 wing, the shrill disyllabic of the great tit, or the cawing of 

 rooks or the rattle of the wings of a flying swan, it 

 pleases the sense without any reference to its ideal sweet 

 ness. The ugly note becomes beautiful like the araucaria 

 among the garden cypresses. 



3- 



It is possible in these days to accompany birds on 

 their long journeys. The airmen have flown alongside 

 both our swallows and German cranes. Twice I have 

 voyaged a little way with some of the warblers which 

 are accustomed to rest on north-going ships. One year 

 as our ship, after swinging round the southern promon 

 tories of the Peloponnese, turned a little northwards 

 towards Italy and the Straits of Messina, it was boarded 

 by a small company of birds of several kinds, and one of 

 them, more tired perhaps than the rest, remained on the 

 deck and allowed itself to be picked up and nursed. It 

 showed no fear ; and responded mildly to an offer of 

 water in the palm of the hand. It dwelt peaceably in a 

 cabin for the night and flew away &quot; with unconfined joy &quot; 

 on the next morning. The bird was not of an English 

 breed ; but had some likeness to the wheatear, the rather 

 long tail with the white feather and the black stripe above 

 the eye, though a white stripe was below it. 



Many of the birds that appear on shipboard are a 

 mystery. They seem to be out of place and quite astray. 

 Certainly no theory of migration routes would account 

 for their presence there and then. Why should a small 

 bird, or, for the matter of that, a big bird, journey fifty 

 miles West from the coast of Spain on a rough March 



