156 BIRDS AND MAN 



xanthophyll in leaf and stalk, and the yeUow 

 sometimes seen in clouds. When Ossian, in 

 his famous address to the sun, speaks of his 

 yellow hair floating on the eastern clouds, we 

 instantly feel the truth as well as beauty of the 

 simile. We admire the yellow flower for the 

 purity and brilliance of its colour, just as we 

 admire some bird notes solely for the purity 

 and brightness of the sound, however unUke 

 the human voice they may be. We also admire 

 it in many instances for the exquisite beauty 

 of its form, and the beauty of the contrast of 

 pure yellow and deep green, as in the yellow 

 flag, mimulus, and numerous other plants. But 

 however much we may admire, we do not ex- 

 perience that intimate and tender feeling which 

 the blues and reds inspire in us ; in other words, 

 the yellow flower has not the expression which 

 distinguishes those of other colours. Thus, when 

 Tennyson speaks of the "speedwell's darling blue," 

 we know that he is right — that he expresses a 

 feeling about this flower common to all of us ; 

 but no poet would make so great, so absurd, a 

 mistake as to describe the purest and loveliest 

 yeUow of the most prized and famiUar wild 



