DAWS IN THE WEST COUNTRY 77 



and wren were each represented by a pair. 

 The wrens lived in the wood-pile, and were the 

 only members of the little feathered community 

 that did not join the others at table when crumbs 

 and scraps were thrown out. 



It was surprising to find all or most of these 

 birds evidently wintering on that smaU plot of 

 ground in the middle of the town, solely for the 

 sake of the warmth and shelter it afforded them, 

 and the chance crumbs that came in their way. 

 It is true that I fed them regularly, but they 

 were all there before I came. Yet it was not an 

 absolutely safe place for them, being much 

 infested by cats, especially by a big black one 

 who was always on the prowl, and who had a 

 peculiarly murderous gleam in his luminous 

 yellow orbs when he crouched down to watch 

 or attempted to stalk them. One could not but 

 imagine that the very sight of such eyes in that 

 black, devilish face would have been enough to 

 freeze their blood with sudden terror, and make 

 them powerless to fly from him. But it was not 

 so : he could neither fascinate nor take them by 

 surprise. No sooner would he begin to practise 

 his wiles than all the population would be up in 



