A WOOD WREN AT WELLS 93 



nearer, and finally near me he would remain for 

 most of the time. Sometimes he would wander 

 for a distance of forty or fifty yards away, but 

 before long he would wander back and be with 

 me once more, often perching so near that the 

 most delicate shadings of his plumage were as 

 distinctly seen as if I had, had him perched on 

 my hand. 



The human form seen in an unaccustomed place 

 always excites a good deal of attention among 

 the birds ; it awakes their curiosity, suspicion, 

 and alarm. The wood wren was probably 

 curious and nothing more ; his keeping near 

 me looked strange only because he at the same 

 time appeared so whoUy absorbed in his own 

 music. Two or three times I tried the experi- 

 ment of walking to a distance of fifty or sixty 

 yards and taking up a new position ; but always 

 after a while he would drift thither, and I would 

 have him near me, singing and moving, as before. 



I was glad at this inquisitiveness, if that was 

 the bird's motive (for that I had unconsciously 

 fascinated him I could not believe) ; for of aU 

 the wood wrens I have seen this seemed the 

 most beautiful, most graceful in his motions, and 



