588 Biography of the Gold-crested Kinglet, 



snugger and more cozy than that of the brown wren, seems 

 quite choked up with feathers, and the young ones have as 

 soft a feather-bed as the greatest duke in the land. Altoge- 

 ther, it is a right snug little country seat. The female deposits 

 ten eggs, of a dusky brown, on which she sits about a fort- 

 night. I have found more nests of the goldcrest deserted 

 than of any other species of the warbler family (Sylviadse) ; 

 but whether this arises from some accident befalling one or 

 both of the architects, or from their being easily scared from 

 their nests, I cannot tell. But that the observation has not 

 been only made by me, may be seen on referring to the Fea- 

 thered Tribes, where the author records the same circumstance. 

 This is, perhaps, one of the reasons why goldcrests do not 

 increase in proportion to the number of eggs laid by each 

 female. Some birds, such as the green grosbeak and the 

 hedge coalhood, make but little difference in the height at 

 which they build their nest from the ground ; but the gold- 

 crest swings his hammock high or low, having, seemingly, no 

 other guide in this affair than caprice. In any case it is not 

 very easy for any but a practised eye to detect the Lilliputian 

 mansion, especially if it be concealed in larch or fir. It is 

 sometimes found in the holly, but not so frequently as the 

 nest of that prince of British nest-builders, the long-tailed tit. 

 When it is wished to preserve a specimen, the branch must, of 

 course, be preserved too, else half the beauty and character of 

 the nest is gone. The nest of the long-tailed tit, torn from 

 the twig to which it was woven, is a miserable object ; and, 

 moreover, the excuse which I have heard alleged, that the 

 branch would take up too much room, is untenable ; for, if 

 there is room for the nest, there is also room for its support. 

 And the plan of putting nests into artificial attitudes is an- 

 other practice that should be avoided. Thus, it is very com- 

 mon to see the nest of the hedge warbler (Sylvia Hippolais), 

 which has the entrance at the side, placed so as to have the 

 entrance- side uppermost ; and, it being altogether a very 

 loose fabric, the hole soon enlarges so much as to give it the 

 appearance of any common open-topped nest. In Weaver's 

 museum of natural history, in Birmingham*, in the case 



* I should wish to direct the attention of every ornithologist to this 

 museum. It is mentioned in a communication in this Magazine (iii. 162.), 

 dated Nov. 17. 1829, as containing " a few British birds j" but it now in- 

 cludes almost every bird ever found in a natural state within the four seas 

 of Britain, from the eagle to the kinglet. It may be interesting to the 

 ornithologist to specify a few of the jewels of this collection : — a noble 

 specimen of the white-tailed ossifrage (Ossifraga albicilla W.), a white- 

 headed forktail (E'lanus furcatus Sav.), a hooting snowflake (Nyctea 

 cinerea Staph*), a rose-coloured pastor (Pastor roseus Tern.), male and 



