EXOTIC BIRDS FOR BRITAIN 181 



abounds, and where at every quiet interval his 

 blithe chirruping comes to us like a sound of sub- 

 dued 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 inter- 

 mission. And going further afield, in woods, 

 gardens, hedges, hamlets, towns — everywhere 

 there is the same running, rippling sound of the 

 omnipresent sparrow, and it becomes monoto- 

 nous at last. We have too much of the sparrow. 

 But we are to blame for that. He is the un- 

 skilled 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 tem- 

 perament, 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 in- 

 cessantly rising like a sounding cloud before his 



