THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



NOVEMBER, 1835. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Biography of the Gold-crested Kinglet (Regulus auri- 

 capillus). By S. D. W. 



" Aloft in mazy course the golden wren (goldencrest) 

 Sports on the boughs ; she who, her slender form 

 Vaunting, and radiant crest, half dares to vie 

 With those gay wanderers, whose effulgent wings 

 With insect hum still flutter o'er the pride 

 Of Indian gardens." 



Gisborn's Walks in a Forest. 



The goldcrest is plentiful throughout our island, its range 

 extending from the southern counties even to the Shetland 

 Isles, which, however, it is said to desert before the arrival of 

 winter. Nothing seems to delight the goldcrests more than 

 whisking among the dark foliage of the cedar, the yew, or 

 the pine : where these trees are present, the bird of the 

 golden crown is seldom absent. They are as active and un- 

 ceasingly diligent as if they were fully impressed with the 

 truth of the maxim, " Idleness is the root of all evil." They 

 have no slight resemblance to the tits (Parus) when perform- 

 ing their evolutions, and engaged in " entomological research." 

 I have remarked that these little fairies of the creation, as 

 well as the tits, are partial to the favourite haunts of the brake 

 nightingale (Philomela Z/Uscinia Swains.), damp situations, 

 abounding in beeches, pines, and plenty of underwood, con- 

 sisting chiefly of the genus i?ubus. I have not, however, 

 been able to verify the assertion of several ornithologists as to 

 their partiality for oaks. Willughby remarks, "they (gold- 

 crests) abide and haunt, for the most part, on the tops 

 of trees, especially oaks." {Ornithology, 227 .) And Latham 

 is of the same opinion ; for he observes, the goldencrest 

 Vol. VIII. — No. 55. t t 



