Interpretations 



interpreted and if so, the question arises, How 

 far have we wandered from the facts ? 



While yet the crow was in sight, a Carolina 

 wren rushed from nowhere into visihle space. 

 It came to view, like a flash of lightning, but 

 unlike the flash, remained. All this of its own 

 volition, is my assumption, but other causes may 

 have operated. We assume the bird to be a 

 free-agent — ^no such condition ever existed — 

 and theorize accordingly. Tarrying on a bare 

 twig, the wren singS Mer-ri-lee, over and over 

 again. No other wren replies; no birds of 

 other species pay attention ; we conclude that it 

 is singing for its own satisfaction. Do we 

 know? Is a word of what I have written, in 

 any sense, correct interpretation? Yet, con- 

 scious of our inability to fathom the impulse of 

 a passing bird, if we weave no net to cast 

 over every crow and wren we meet, the interest 

 in such interviews would vanish. It was only a 

 crow and a wren at this early hour, but they 

 filled the landscape as completely as a flock of 

 either might have done. Every mesh of the 

 net I had woven was a pleasing thought, and 

 casting it about the birds, I was also entangled. 

 Irresponsible thought, not a soulless reaJiza- 



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