20 BIRDS AND MAN 



him who has seen and harvested them : they 

 cannot be pictured forth to another by words, 

 nor with the painter's brush, though it be charged 

 with tintas orientales ; least of all by photo- 

 graphy, which brings all things down to one 

 flat, monotonous, colourless shadow of things, 

 weary to look at. 



From sights we pass to the consideration of 

 sounds, and it is unfortunate that the two 

 subjects have to be treated consecutively instead 

 of together, since with birds they are more 

 intimately joined than in any other order of 

 beings ; and in images of bird life at its best 

 they sometimes cannot be dissociated ; — the 

 aerial form of the creature, its harmonious, deli- 

 cate tints, and its grace of motion ; and the voice, 

 which, loud or low, is aerial too, in harmony 

 with the form. 



We know that as with sights so it is with 

 sounds : those to which we listen attentively, 

 appreciatively, or in any way emotionally, live in 

 the mind, to be recalled and reheard at will. 

 There is no doubt that in a large majority of 

 persons this retentive power is far less strong 

 with regard to sounds than sights, but we are all 



