224 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



that stories are told about them, or they hold 

 important positions in their own countries. 

 It is not necessary for a bird to be big to be 

 a notability ; one of the most celebrated of 

 European birds is the little wren, and very 

 likely he has won his celebrity because he is 

 so small and at the same time so self-assertive, 

 with his loud song and cocked-up tail. So 

 we find all sorts of fairy stories told about this 

 tiny bird, and queer names given to him ; 

 in Yarkand they call him " the mouthful " 

 and in Iceland " the mouse's brother " ; the 

 Highlanders say that he said " it's the less 

 for that " when he took a drink out of the 

 sea, showing that he is supposed to think a lot 

 of himself although he is so small ; and there 

 is a very well-known tale of how he tried to 

 cheat the eagle out of his position as king of 

 the birds. The birds, so the story goes, were, 

 naturally enough, determined to take as their 

 king the bird who flew highest, and when the 

 competition took place it was soon seen that 

 the eagle was going to win. But when he had 

 soared so high that even he could get not a 

 stroke higher, and hung on his wings, consider- 

 ing, no doubt, which of his loyal subjects he 



