ite easy, on Darwinian principles.
Many birds wag their tails. Some Eastern flycatchers--also black and
white--wag their long tails up and down when they alight on the ground
or on a branch. Other birds with long tails jerk them up in the air when
they alight on a branch. Now these varied motions, like the motions of
many butterflies, caterpillars, and many other animals, must have a use
to the animal, and the most common, or rather the most probable, use is,
either to frighten or to distract an enemy. If a hawk was very hungry
and darted down on a wagtail from up in the air, the wagging tail would
be seen most distinctly and be aimed at, and thus the bird would be
missed or at most a feather torn out of the tail. The bird hunts for
food in the open, on the edges of ponds and streams, and would be
especially easy to capture, hence the wagging tail has been developed to
baffle the enemy....

* * * * *

TO MISS VIOLET WALLACE

_Parkstone, Dorset. March 8, 1899._

My dear Violet,-- ... I have now finished reading the "Maha Bharata,"
which is on the whole very fine--finer, I think, than the "Iliad." I
have read a good deal of it twice, and it will bear reading many times.
It corresponds pretty nearly in date with the "Iliad," the scenes it
describes being supposed to be about B.C. 1500. Many of the ideas and
moral teachings are beautiful; equal to the best teaching and superior
to the general practice of to-day. I have made a lot of emendations and
suggestions, which I am going to send to the translator, as the proofs
have evidently not been carefully read by any English literary man.

About the year 1899 Dr. Wallace began to think of leaving Parkstone,
partly for reasons of health and partly to get a larger garden, if
possible. He spent three years in looking for a suitable spot in many of
the southern counties, and we were all pressed to join in the search.
Finally he found just the spot he wanted at Broadstone; only three miles
away. The following letters describe his final success--all written
with his usual optimism and high spirits:

* * * * *

TO MR. W.G. WALLACE

_Parkstone, Dorset. October 26, 1901._

My dear Will,--At length the long quest has come to an end, and I have
agreed to buy three acres of land at Broadstone. Ma and I have just been
over again this morning to consider its capabilities, and the exact
boundaries that will be the m