128 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The actions are those of a warbler rather than a tit, though 

 occasionally it will hang beneath a leaf stalk or branch ; as 

 a rule it flits gracefully from twig to twig, craning its neck and 

 carefully examining every bud or leaf, but spending only a 

 moment at each ; in winter it feeds in the bare hedgerows and 

 visits gardens. The insects captured are often small. New- 

 stead found it feeding freely on the American " blight " on fruit 

 trees, and other aphids are taken ; a passing flock visited a 

 laburnum in my garden picking from their silken cocoons the 

 pupas of the laburnum leaf-miner. In Devon I have seen it 

 examining the horse droppings in the road. In spite of the 

 fact that so many perished in the severe winter, it is a hardy 

 bird ; I have watched it bathing in an exit stream from a frozen 

 lake. The male, when displaying, droops his wings, puffs out 

 his feathers, and expands the feathers bordering the crest so as 

 to expose to the view of the hen the orange-yellow central 

 streak. 



The nest is a wonderfully neat hammock of moss, lichens and 

 cobwebs, suspended beneath a branch of a conifer, usually 

 with the moss wound round needles or twigs ; Miss Turner 

 has found it supported by twisted cobwebs. It may be but a 

 foot or two above the ground, or high in the branches of a tall 

 fir ; occasionally it is built in other situations, such as ivy or a 

 furze bush. Feathers are largely used for the lining, and in 

 these the tiny eggs, looking like children's comfits, are almost 

 buried ; these are often seven or eight, but ten or more are 

 found at times. They are laid in April or May, and a second 

 brood is not unusual. In colour they are huffish white with 

 minute reddish spots, which may form a zone towards the 

 larger end (Plate 58). 



The Goldcrest is olive-green above and creamy buff beneath. 

 The forehead, chin and throat are buff, and a black line from the 

 forehead passes on either side of the chroma-yellow crest, the 

 posterior portion of which, in the male, is deep chrome or 



