Biography of' the Gold-crested Kinglet. 587 



been, like swallows and nightjars, found among the luggage 

 of ships. The following is the account of an eyewitness of 

 the circumstance : — " When off Whitby, about fourteen 

 miles from land, on the 7th of October, 1833, a flock of gold- 

 crests settled on the ship's tackle : the little creatures, being 

 much exhausted, suffered themselves to be taken with the 

 hand, as did also a solitary chiffchaff (Sylvia loquax), which, 

 together with nine goldcrests, it was attempted to bring alive 

 to London ; but they all died on the passage." Selby records 

 an instance in which he actually witnessed the arrival of an 

 immense flock of kinglets on the coast of Northumberland ; 

 and another equally strong proof of their migration is the fact, 

 stated by the same author, of " the total disappearance of the 

 whole tribe, natives as well as strangers, throughout the whole 

 of Scotland and the north of England. This happened 

 towards the conclusion of the month of January, 1823." 

 {Brit. Orn., 2d edit. i. 230.) The fact of these little birds 

 buffeting the adverse winds, when winging their flight over 

 the stormy sea, ought to have removed all sceptical feelings 

 regarding the migration of swallows, which seem to have been 

 so prevalent among the older ornithologists. If the kinglet, 

 which, when with us, scarce takes a longer flight than from 

 one tree to another, in a thickly wooded plantation, can dare 

 the stormy blasts, and brave the foaming surge, surely the 

 elastic-pinioned swallow, who spends the greater part of his 

 life on the wing, may be supposed capable, even if there were 

 no evidence to prove the fact, of transporting himself to more 

 genial climes. Though the goldcrest is seldom seen on the 

 wing for any length of time, yet, according to Pennant, it 

 sometimes hovers in the air like the colibree : — " We have 

 observed the gold-crested warbler suspended in the air for a 

 considerable time over a bush in flower, whilst it sang very 

 melodiously." 



The nest of the gold-crested kinglet is not the least interest- 

 ing part of its economy. This pretty verdant cradle is sus- 

 pended underneath the thickly matted foliage of a yew, a 

 spruce, a cedar, or a larch ; sometimes it is placed amid the 

 clustering foliage of ivy. Thus the female bird when sitting, 

 and the young when hatched, are as securely guarded from 

 the rain as if covered with an oil-cloth. Though destitute of 

 the lichen spangles so lavishly besprinkled over the nest of 

 the chaffinch, the pendent cradle of the goldcrest is a very 

 elegant structure. The staple article is green moss, which is 

 fashioned by the fairy architects into a cup-like shape, covered 

 at top, except a little hole in the centre, for the ingress and 

 egress of the proprietors. The inside, which is much 



