RAVENS IN SOMERSET 107 



without a human creature to share its solitude 

 with him, he would be happy enough if only 

 wagtails were there to keep him company. 

 Mr. Fowler is not joking ; he tells us frankly 

 what he thinks and feels, and when we come 

 to consider the matter seriously, as he wishes 

 us to do, we discover that there is nothing 

 astonishing in his confession — that his mental 

 attitude is capable of being explained. It is 

 only natural, in an England from which most 

 of the larger birds have been banished, that he 

 should have become absorbed in observing and 

 in admiration of the small species that remain ; 

 for we observe and study the life that is nearest 

 to us, and seeing it well we are impressed by 

 its perfection — the perfect correspondence that 

 exists between the creature and its surroundings 

 — ^by its beauty, grace, and other attractive 

 qualities, as we are not impressed by the life 

 which is at a distance, and of which we only 

 obtain rare and partial glimpses. 



These thoughts passed through my mind one 

 cold, windy day in spring, several hours of 

 which I spent lying on the short grass on the 

 summit of a cliff, watching at intervals a pair 



