Their Eggs and Nests. 89 



GOLD- CRESTED ^YJ^'\5\J5^—{^Regulus cri status). 



Gold -crest, Gold - crested Wren, Golden - crested 

 Warbler, Gold-crowned Kinglet. — One of the smallest 

 of our native birds, and possessing a '• soft and pleas- 

 ing song." Its nest — one of the very most beautiful 

 of all our English nests — is often built below the 

 branch of a spruce fir-tree and near the end of the 

 bough, being suspended to two or more of the spread- 

 ing side-boughs. I have found it built below another 

 and larger bird's nest. The side boughs just named are 

 often woven in with the moss and wool of the nest, and 

 then tb.ere is a lining of feathers ; spiders' webs too are 

 used to compact the structure. Seven or eight eggs are 

 laid, which vary remarkably, in different nests, in both 

 ground-sbade and markings. Some remind one of 

 the usual Robin's o^gg in both, though the spots are 

 much finer. Others are pale white, with yellowish- 

 brown (latber than red) speckles. — Fig. \^, plate III. 



FIRE-CRESTED REGULUS— (i^^-^^?///^^ ignicapillus. 



Much less common than the last, though very likely 

 often confounded with it from its great general 

 resemblance. Its nest is like its gold-crowned rela- 

 tion's, and the eggs seem to resemble the variety fir.'st 

 described in the above notice of that bird. 



FAMILY VIII.— TROGLODYTID.E. 



WREN — {Troglodytes parvuliis ; formerly, T. vulgaris) 

 Jenny Wren, Kitty Wren, Titty Wren, Cutty 



