SVLVIIN.t. 59 



THE FIRE-CRESTED WREN. 

 Regulus ignicapillus (C. L. Brehm). 



The Fire-crested Wren can only be considered an irregular 

 visitor to our shores, and Mr. J. H. Gurney, in an excellent analysis 

 of its supposed occurrences ('Zoologist,' 1889, p. 172) throws 

 justifiable doubt on the correctness of some of the identifications, 

 notably the first, near Cambridge in 1S32, on the strength of which 

 the species was admitted to the British list. However, between the 

 months of October and April in various years, many genuine 

 examples have been obtained on our southern and eastern coasts, 

 chiefly in Cornwall and the Scilly Islands ; more than twenty in 

 Sussex ; and some in every littoral county up to Yorkshire ; a few in 

 Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Shropshire ; and one (coll. E. Bidwell) 

 near Pwllheli, North Wales, on March 24th, 1878. There are no 

 authenticated records for Scotland or Ireland. 



The Fire-crested AVren has a much less extended range northward 

 than its congener ; it is unknown in Scandinavia ; barely reaches 

 Denmark, though often visiting Heligoland ; and does not occur to 

 the north-east of the Baltic Provinces of Germany. It is rather 

 partial to some parts of the Rhine district in summer ; and, although 

 local in its distribution, breeds in France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, 

 Central and Southern Germany, Greece, Turkey, and Southern 

 Russia ; while in the Taurus range of Asia Minor it is more abundant 

 than the Golden-crest. In the mountain-forests of Algeria, and in 

 some parts of Southern Europe, the Fire-crest is resident throughout 



