which kept flying about at no
great distance. I could not tell at first what to make of them; for
they rose all together from the ground as thick as a swarm of bees,
and formed themselves into a kind of black cloud, hovering over the
field. After taking a short round, they settled again, and presently
rose again in the same manner, I dare say there were hundreds of them.

_Mr. A_. Perhaps so; for in the fenny countries their flocks are so
numerous as to break down whole acres of reeds by settling on them.
This disposition of starlings to fly in close swarms was remarked even
by Homer, who compares the foe flying from one of his heroes to a
_cloud_ of starlings retiring dismayed at the approach of the hawk.

_W_. After I had left the meadows, I crossed the cornfields and got to
the high field next our house just as the sun was setting, and I stood
looking at it till it was quite lost. What a glorious sight! The
clouds were tinged with purple and crimson and yellow of all shades
and hues, and the clear sky varied from blue to a fine green at the
horizon. But how large the sun appears just as it sets! I think it
seems twice as big as when it is overhead.

_Mr. A_. It does so; and you may probably have observed the same
apparent enlargement of the moon at its rising.

_W_. I have; but pray what is the reason of this?

_Mr. A_. It is an optical deception, depending upon principles which I
cannot well explain to you till you know more of that branch of
science. But what a number of new ideas this afternoon's walk has
afforded you! I do not wonder that you found it amusing; It has been
very instructive, too. Did _you_ see nothing of all these sights,
Robert?

_R_. I saw some of them, but I did not take particular notice of them.

_Mr. A_. Why not?

_R_. I don't know. I did not care about them, and I made the best of
my way home.

_Mr. A_. That would have been right if you had been sent of a message;
but as you only walked for amusement it would have been wiser to have
sought out as many sources of it as possible. But so it is--one man
walks through the world with his eyes open, and another with them
shut; and upon this difference depends all the superiority of
knowledge the one acquires above the other. I have known sailors, who
had been in all quarters of the world, and could tell you nothing but
the signs of the tippling-houses they frequented in different ports,
and the price and quality of the liquor. On the ot