MOOR-HENS IN HYDE PARK 171 



ing their shy habits, and bringing them in crowds 

 about us. Not only in the orchard and grove and 

 garden walks would they be Avith us, but even in 

 our house. The robin, the little bird " with the red 

 stomacher," would be there for the customary crumbs 

 at meal-time, and many dainty fringilline pensioners 

 would keep him company. And the wren would be 

 there, searching diligently in the dusty angles of 

 cornices for a savoury morsel j for it knows, this 

 wise little Kitty Wren, that " the spider taketh hold 

 with her hands, and is in kings' palaces " ; and 

 wandering from room to room it would pour forth 

 many a gushing lyric — a sound of wildness and joy 

 in our still interiors, eternal Nature's message to 

 our hearts. 



Who dehghts not in a bird S* Yet how few ampng 

 us find any pleasure in reading of them in natural 

 history books ! The living bird, viewed closely 

 and fearless of our presence, is so much more to 

 the mind than all that is written — so infinitely more 

 engaging in its spontaneous gladness, its brilliant 

 vivacity, and its motions so swift and true and yet 

 so graceful ! Even leaving out the melody, what a 

 charm it would add to our homes if birds were 

 permitted to take the part there for which Nature 

 designed them — if they were the " winged wardens " 

 of our gardens and houses as well as of the fields. 

 Bird - biographies are always in our bookcases; 



