BIRDS OF THE WAVE AND WOODLAND 85 



that flew highest should be king. The wren hid itself on the 

 eagle's back, and when the eagle had flown its highest, the 

 wren flew up a litde higher still. And "regulus" it remained, 

 even in science, till quite lately, when some ridiculous fusti- 

 larian rechristened it "troglodytes." Imagine the wren being 



THE OLD COCK PHEASANT 



" troglodytes," the same, scientifically, as the gorilla ! What 

 a poverty it betrays in nomenclature, what a pitiful " superiority 

 to imagination" to find that the wren and the gorilla are un- 

 distinguishable to the eye of a Professor. " Diabolus " would 

 have been even better, for science has got no devil now, so 

 the Eno-lish wren could never have been mistaken for the great 



