Page:Bird Life Throughout the Year (Salter, 1913).djvu/323

Rh ways, have not been surpassed, or indeed equalled, by those of any other nation. For this painstaking and sympathetic study of birds in the field, as distinct from the work of the museum or closet-naturalist, may almost be called a speciality of the Anglo-Saxon race, including in that term its transatlantic off-shoot, and is merely one manifestation of that kindly tolerance and friendly intimacy with animated things which characterizes the Teutonic spirit at its best, and which is noticeably lacking amongst the Latin peoples. A hopeful sign of the times to the well-wishers of our native fauna is that this, spirit steadily broadens and deepens. Whether it is that the destructive spirit derived from savage ancestors asserts itself less strongly in each succeeding generation, or that sport necessarily becomes increasingly the pastime of the few, certain it is that the tendency of the naturalist nowadays is to take the field armed with binoculars or camera, rather than with breech-loader—a state of things which would have rejoiced the heart of White, and which, to the birds themselves, must seem to bring the millennium notably nearer.

Nov.1st.—Bullfinches more numerous in the lanes. 2nd.—Ring Ouzel last noted. 3rd.—Chaffinch still sings. 4th.—Migratory party of Pied Wagtails seen.