DAWS IN THE WEST COUNTRY 75 



Bath, like Wells, is a city that has a consider- 

 able amount of nature in its composition, and is 

 set down in a country of hills, woods, rocks and 

 streams, and is therefore, like the other, a city 

 loved by daws and by many other wild birds. 

 It is a town built of white stone in the hoUow of 

 an oblong basin, with the river Avon flowing 

 through it ; and though perhaps too large for 

 perfect beauty, it is exceedingly pleasant. Its 

 " stone walls do not a prison make," since they do 

 not shut you out from rural sights and sounds : 

 walking in almost any street, even in the lowest 

 part, in the busiest, noisiest centre of the town, 

 you have but to lift your eyes to see a green hill 

 not far away ; and viewed from the top of one of 

 these hills that encircle it, Bath, in certain 

 favourable states of the atmosphere, wears a 

 beautiful look. One afternoon, a couple of miles 

 out, I was on the top of Barrow Hill in a sudden, 

 violent storm of rain and wind ; when the rain 

 ceased, the sun burst out behind me, and the 

 town, rain-wet and sun-flushed, shone white as a 

 dty built of whitest marble against the green 

 hills and black cloud on the farther side. Then 

 on the slaty blackness appeared a complete and 



