A WOOD WREN AT WELLS 111 



come up to John Bull's standard of a good song. 

 No one who loves a hearty laugh can feel hurt at 

 his manner of expressing himself, so characteristic 

 of an American. Nevertheless, the fact remains 

 that only since Burroughs' appreciation of the 

 British song-birds first appeared, several years 

 ago, the willow wren, which he found languishing 

 in obscurity, has had many to praise it. At all 

 events, the merits of its song are now much more 

 freely acknowledged than they were formerly. 



Perhaps the wood wren's turn will come by and 

 by. He is still an obscure bird, little known, or 

 not known, to most people : we are more influenced 

 by what the old writers have said than we know 

 or like to believe ; our preferences have mostly 

 been made for us. The species which they praised 

 and made famous have kept their places in popular 

 esteem, while other species equally charming, which 

 they did not know or said nothing about, are still 

 but little regarded. It is hardly to be doubted 

 that the wood wren would have been thought 

 more of if Willughby, the Father of British Orni- 

 thology, had known it and expressed a high opinion 

 of its song ; or that it would have had millions to 

 admire it if Chaucer or Shakespeare had singled it 

 out for a few words of praise. 



