CHAPTER V 



RAVENS IN SOMERSET 



Mr. Warde Fowler in his Summer Studies of 

 Birds and Books has a pleasant chapter on 

 wagtails, in which he remarks incidentally that 

 he does not care for the big solemn birds 

 that please, or are dear to, " Mr. Hudson." 

 Their bigness disturbs and their solemnity 

 oppresses him. They do not twitter and 

 warble, and flit hither and thither, flirting 

 their feathers, and with their dainty graceful- 

 ness and airy, fairy ways wind themselves 

 round his heart. Wagtails are quite big 

 enough for him ; they are, in fact, as big as 

 birds should be, and so long as these charming 

 little creatures abound in these islands he (Mr. 

 Fowler) wiU be content. Indeed, he goes so 

 far as to declare that on a desert island, 



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