14 BIRDS AND MAN 



case. But it is no longer the same thing : the 

 image of the living sunlit bird flashing past him 

 is in his mind and creates a kind of illusion when 

 he looks at his feathered mummy, but the lustre 

 is not visible to others. 



It is because of the commonness of this delu- 

 sion that stuiFed kingfishers, and other brilUant 

 species, are to be seen in the parlours of tens of 

 thousands of cottages aU over the land. Nor is 

 it only those who live in cottages that make this 

 mistake ; those who care to look for it wiU find 

 that it exists in some degree in most minds — the 

 curious delusion that the lustre which we see 

 and admire is in the case, the coil, the substance 

 which may be grasped, and not in the spirit of 

 life which is within and the atmosphere and 

 miracle-working sunlight which are without. 



To return to my own taste and feelings, since 

 in the present chapter I must be allowed to write 

 on Man (myself to wit) and Birds, the other 

 chapters being occupied with the subject of Birds 

 and Man. It has always, or since I can remem- 

 ber, been my ambition and principal delight to 

 see and hear every bird at its best. This is here 

 a comparative term, and simply means an un- 



