270 BIRDS AND MAN 



eifect on the mind : for just as the stars, some 

 large, intensely bright, others small and pale, 

 burned and sparkled in the dusky blue of heaven, 

 so did the birds, far and near, scattered over that 

 darker under -sky, each in his place, shine and 

 sparkle in their melody. 



Enough — perhaps more than enough, albeit 

 so little — has been said to show how great was 

 the difference between this habitation of birds 

 and the one I had lately left. Here I had not 

 to go far to look for them : they were with me 

 everywhere — it was their metropoUs ; indeed, 

 had it not been for that wrathful chiding of the 

 jays in the woods, and the lamentable wild cries 

 of the redshanks and peewits that followed me 

 on the heath, I might have said that I was their 

 guest. Most deUghtful of all was the new ease 

 I enjoyed — the reUef from patient watchfulness. 

 Like the sunbeams, the warm wind and rain, 

 and the smell of earth, and fragrance of flowers, 

 knowledge came to me unsought. How I had 

 endured that long labour of producing a book 

 about London bird life was something for me 

 to wonder at. 



Nevertheless, I was no sooner back in town 



