BIRDS AT THEIR BEST 21 



supposed to have it in some degree. So far, I 

 have niet with but one person, a lady, who is 

 without it : sounds, in her case, do not register 

 an impression in the brain, so that with regard 

 to this sense she is in the condition of civilised 

 man generally with regard to smells. I say of 

 civilised man, being convinced that this power 

 has become obsolete in us, although it appears to 

 exist in savages and in the lower animals. The 

 most common sounds, natural or artificial, the 

 most familiar bird-notes, the lowing of a cow, 

 the voices of her nearest and dearest friends, and 

 simplest melodies sung or played, cannot be 

 reproduced in her brain : she remembers them 

 as agreeable sounds, just as we all remember 

 that certain flowers and herbs have agreeable 

 odours ; but she does not hear them. Probably 

 there are not many persons in the same case ; 

 but in such matters it is hard to know what 

 the real condition of another's mind may be. 

 Our acquaintances refuse to analyse or turn 

 themselves inside out merely to gratify a curiosity 

 which they may think idle. In some cases they 

 perhaps have a kind of superstition about such 

 things : the secret processes of their mind are 



