100 BIRDS AND MAN 



standard of a good song. No one who loves a 

 hearty laugh can feel hurt at his manner of ex- 

 pressing 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 Avren's turn will come by 

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

 or not knoAvn, to most people : we are more 

 influenced by what the old writers have said than 

 we know or like to beUeve ; 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 Ornithology, had known it 

 and expressed a high opinion of its song ; or that 

 it would have had millions to admire it if Chaucer 



