212 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



could hardly believe my ears. The wren's song I did 

 not hear and concluded that the warbler refused to copy 

 it on account of its peculiar distinctive sharp quality 

 which some persons associate in their minds with an 

 acid flavour. 



I think the imitation which pleased and surprised me 

 most was that of the willow wren's exquisite joyous yet 

 tender melody. Until I heard it I could not have be- 

 lieved that any feathered mocker could reproduce that 

 falling strain so perfectly. 



One of the greatest pleasures in life — my life I mean 

 — is to be present, in a sense invisible, in the midst of 

 the domestic circle of beings of a different order, an- 

 other world, than ours. Yet it is one which may be 

 had by any person who desires it. Some of the smaller 

 birds lend themselves easily to this innocent prying. 

 And one is more in sympathy with them than with the 

 smaller, more easily observed insects. The absolute 

 indifference of these to our presence only accentuates 

 the fact of their unlikeness to us in their senses and 

 faculties. There is a perpetual fascination in some social 

 insects, ants especially, but it disquiets as well as de- 

 lights us to mark their ways. They baffle our curiosity, 

 and if we be of animistic mind we become when watch- 

 ing them uncomfortably conscious of a spirit, an entity, 

 in or behind nature that watches us and our watching 

 with an unfathomable look in its eyes and a challenging 

 and mocking smile on its lips. 



One of our most distinguished biologists, who has 



