TWO LITTLE KINGS 6 



useless for him to " take lessons." He can paint, 

 perhaps, or invent a machine, or make money, or 

 edit a paper, or teach school, or preach sermons, 

 or practice medicine ; but he will never win a 

 name in the concert room. 



The case of the golden-crown is hardly so 

 hopeless as that, I am glad to beheve ; for if he 

 is not much of a musician now, as he surely is 

 not, he is not without some signs of an undevel- 

 oped musical capacity. The root of the matter 

 seems to be in him. He tries to sing, at any rate, 

 and not unlikely, as time goes on, — say in a 

 million or two of years, — he may become as 

 capable a performer as the ruby-crown is at pre- 

 sent. There is no telling what a creature may 

 make of himself if his will is good, and he has 

 astronomical time in which to work. The dullest 

 of us might learn something with a thousand 

 years of schooling. 



What you will mostly hear from the goldcrest 

 is no tune, but a hurried zee, zee, zee, repeated at 

 intervals as he flits about the branches of a tree, 

 or, less often, through the mazes of a piece of 

 shrubbery. His activity is wonderful, and his 

 motions are really as good as music. No dancing 

 could be prettier to look at. All you need is 

 eyes to see him. But you will have to " look 

 sharp." Now he is there for an instant, snatch- 



