A WOOD WREN AT WELLS 105 



alarm. The wood wren was probably curious 

 and nothing more ; his keeping near me looked 

 strange only because he at the same time appeared 

 so wholly absorbed in his own music. Two or 

 three times I tried the experiment of walking to 

 a distance of fifty or sixty yards and taking up a 

 new position ; but always after a while he would 

 drift thither, and I would have him near me, singing 

 and moving, as before. 



I was glad of this inquisitiveness, if that was 

 the bird's motive (that I had unconsciously fas- 

 cinated him I could not believe) ; for of all the 

 wood wrens I have seen this seemed the most 

 beautiful, most graceful in his motions, and un- 

 tiring in song. Doubtless this was because I saw 

 him so closely, and for such long intervals. His 

 fresh yellowish-green upper and white under plum- 

 age gave him a wonderfully delicate appearance, 

 and these colours harmonised with the tender 

 greens of the opening leaves and the pale greys 

 and silvery whites of the slender boles. 



Seebohm says of this species : " They arrive 

 in our woods in marvellously perfect plumage. 

 In the early morning sun they look almost as deli- 

 cate a yellowish-green as the half-grown leaves 

 amongst which they disport themselves. In the 



