GOLD-CROWNED KINGLET. 411 



In pine or fir woods they are generally seen in company with 

 the Coal Tit, the Long-tailed Tit, frequently also the Creeper, 

 and occasionally the Blue Tit, and even the Greater Tit. Their 

 most common associate however is the first of these species. 

 All these birds live together in perfect amity, none of them 

 appearing on any occasion to interfere with its neighbours. 



The following extract of a letter from the Rev. Mr George 

 Gordon, is so illustrative of the habits of this interesting bird, 

 that I cannot forbear inserting it here. " Elgin, 24th Novem- 

 ber 1831. All the birds (sent) were killed by Mr Taylor in 

 the ' Oakwood' (chiefly however composed of fir) near the 

 town. The Titmice, Golden-crested Wren, and Creepers, seem 

 to scour the wood in foraging parties of several dozens, all to- 

 gether, as one family. Generally the Long-tailed Titmouse 

 took the lead, appearing the most active ; the Blue Titmouse 

 and Colemouse in the centre, the latter by its louder note 

 bringing back such as were roaming too far from the main 

 body. The Golden-crested Wrens were found in the rear, in 

 greater numbers than any of the others. Through the flock a 

 Creeper or two were searching the trunk from bottom to top, 

 while its comrades left not a branch of the tree un visited. It 

 would have been a treat to have seen your friend Audubon, 

 engaged for the first time in witnessing such a foray." 



No doubt it would ; but although I have not seen him ad- 

 miring for the first time a flock of Gold-crests, I have had the 

 pleasure of shooting several specimens along with him, on the 

 6th January 1831, at Granton, near Edinburgh, on the sea- 

 shore, and again at Craiglockhart, in November 1835. 



In the fir woods along the Tweed and its tributaries, and by 

 the Dee, from Braemar to Aberdeen, as well as along the Spey, 

 I have found this species particularly abundant ; but it is of 

 general distribution in Scotland, and is very easily procured in 

 all parts of that country. Low states it to be indigenous even 

 in Orkney, which is a very extraordinary circumstance, seeing 

 there are no woods there. In the somewhat analogous tract 

 of the Outer Hebrides I have never met with it. It is plenti- 

 ful in the northern and midland counties of England ; and if 

 in the southern it is more rare, this probably arises from the 

 comparative deficiency there of its favourite woods. 



