Edward Kay Robinson

“ So, when we now see that all red-deer fawns are conspicuously spotted all over with white, we know that a similar change must have occurred in Britain, and the gradual disappearance of primeval forest must have compelled our one-time spotted woodland deer to put on the khaki uniform of the open. The red-deer fawns, however, are still spotted, like the lion cubs, because at infancy they have to be left while their parent seeks food, hidden among undergrowth whose dappled shade still suits their spotted colouring. ”

“ But, while fighting, the stags are doing Nature's work for the evolution of the race, no Nature protects them until the work is finished.
The answers to all the other questions are equally simple, and each links up the red deer to some principle of evolution which explains many other questions about other creatures; and by studying these, you learn to understand all Nature, including your own. ”

“ Watch two angry monkeys quarrelling and see how quickly they exchange vicious snatches at each other's faces: then you understand why our ancestors, like the great apes, had heavy brows overhanging their eyes to protect them, and why we still instinctively increase this protection to the eyes by frowning when we are in the mood for quarrelling. ”

“ It must not, however, be forgotten that British composers of operatic work have greater difficulties to overcome than is the cave with the composers abroad. On the Continent this form of art is a vital part in the musical life of the people, and opera houses are found not only in the capitals, but even in towns of medium size. As opera is largely subsidized and every encouragement is given by the authorities for its development, it is possible to fix the prices of admission on a scale which encourages all classes of the community to familiarize themselves with the best operatic works. ”

“ Very different is the difficulty which Nature has had to surmount in the case of the badger. It never needs to traverse the landscape at speed. Its skulking, evasive habits when abroad are its safeguard; but at home, it must be prepared to disappear at any moment down its burrow without delaying to turn round in the narrow passage, and with its flat feet and short legs it can move as quickly backwards as forwards in the burrow. ”

“ He was rehearsing the happiest possible experience in a wild cat's life, when it had stalked and killed some large creature and was drinking its blood. Puss on the hearthrug may never have killed anything bigger than a mouse, but the old instinct still works. ”

“ A question which everyone asks, but nobody answers, is why does a cat purr when she is happy and at the came time often squeeze the hearthrug with her claws?
Now, in puzzling out these native questions, you have to do a little Sherlock-Holmes business.
Because all kittens purr and squeeze the hearthrug naturally soon after they are born, you know it must be a habit inherited from their ancestors; and because all kinds of cats do it, the habit must have belonged to the original wild ancestors of all kinds of cats. ”

“ I hope to show you how some of our familiar British animals tell the same great story as the wild beasts of other lands; and even our commonest things become interesting when you see how they illustrate some of Nature's most wonderful work. ”

“ The smile and the frown are the oldest, as well as the most universal, means of expressing the feeling of one human being towards another. They go bark to the time when our remote ancestors were four-handed animals which had not learned to use any other weapons than their hands and teeth. ”

“ As far as the man in the street is concerned, I am confident, however, that broadcasting will develop a wider appreciation of opera in hundreds of thousands of homes, and, as a matter of fact, I have heard of people living in distant parts of the British Isles who were amazed to find that operatic music should prove so much more agreeable to their taste than they had ever imagined. ”

“ From all this it might seem that the funny old badger is in a sort of way Nature's favourite, considering what great pains have been taken to help him in his queer ways of life; but there is no wild British creature which you can intelligently examine without discovering equally remarkable evidence of Nature's care in its evolution. ”

“ Frequently audiences have been in part recruited as a direct result of hearing a particular act of some opera broadcast, the impression thus made on them being so strong that they could not resist the desire to see what they had heard. This development of musical taste augurs well for the future of British music, and I have every confidence that a few years hence British Opera and British music generally will feel many increased benefits as a result of members of the public having the best music taken to them in their own homes. ”

“ You know that these original wild cats would not have got the habit if they had not liked it; but, because at the present day kittens purr more often and loudly than grown-up cats, you know that the habit is beginning to die out. ”

“ The work of the British National Opera Company in producing British operas before a public steeped in the old traditions that the best music can only come from foreign countries has been enthusiastically received, and so far as it is possible to reconcile the financial and the artistic sides of the undertaking, the Company will continue to produce the finest British works at its disposal. ”

“ On three we went through the jungle and came out by a group of palm trees, where the native huntsmen were waiting with the cheetah and a bullock-cart. Four of us were packed into the cart, and then the huntsman, who woo going to drive the bullock., asked which of us would take charge of the cheetah.
Being interested in animals, I volunteered; and we dragged the great cat up into the cart by its coller. ”

“ Why do they grow in velvet? Why have they such a remarkable shape? Why has the stag no loud a bellow? Why, when stags are fighting, do they emit so strong a smell of musk that it is quite unpleasant to be near them? ”

“ If you had never seen nor heard of a badger, but were shown a piece of its skin with the hair on you should be able to tell that it is an animal which lives in a burrow and can run backwards and forwards in it. ”

“ So lions and leopards and wolves are careful not to go near fighting stags; and the reason why Nature has given to stags this strong scent for use only when fighting is because for one fort-night in every year each stag is so absorbed in fighting for wives with other stags that, if he were not specially protected just then, he could easily be stalked and killed by any beast of prey ”

“ Composers have the chance of gaining a thorough practical experience and knowledge of the requirements of the operatic stage, and whilst there is no royal road to success, the knowledge born of this practical experience gives them an insight into technical requirements that it is not always possible to gain in countries where opera is a matter of private speculation. ”

“ Why do stags when fighting emit a strong smell of musk? All carnivorous animals detest the smell of musk and whenever Nature gives to any creature a protective scent, it is always a strong, musky smell for use when necessary. ”

“ Except the reindeer and a few relatives, who are equipped with large splay-feet for slipshod travelling over wastes of snow or marsh, all kinds of deer have tapering limbs and neat feet, because they are all denizens of woodland, or of places covered with scrubby vegetation. ”

“ In many cases, too, they were living at places far removed from the centres at which our performances were given, but, through broadcasting, were able to enjoy the unique sensation that good music alone can procure. ”

“ The spotted fur of young lion cube shows that ages and ages ago all lions were spotted, and this was because they hunted then in the vast primeval forests of Africa, where the sunlight., sprinkled through foliage overhead, dappled everything with light and dark spots, and made a spotted hide the only effective camouflage both for hunters and hunted. ”

“ In conclusion, I need hardly add that the British National Opera Company will continue to give the audiences the best that lies within its power, not only as far as new works are concerned, but also new artistes. ”

“ Beyond these operas, the repertoire will be drawn from a very comprehensive number of works performed by the Company, including a fair sprinkling of Wagner, together with some of the French and Italian masterpieces. While the operas to be produced for the first time in English have all been played before in thin country in their original language, it will be interesting to observe with what success the new English versions will meet. ”