FIRE-CRESTED WREN 



513 



fabric being neatly suspended to a bough by weaving the leaves of the 

 latter into the upper part of the margin. In this cradle-like nursery the 

 hen gold-crest lays a clutch of from five to eight buff or creamy-white 

 eggs marked with a darker zone — either almost uniform or composed 

 of distinct spots — at the large end. The breeding-range of the species 

 apparently stops short of the Outer Hebrides, Orkneys, and Shetlands. 

 The British gold-crest {Regu/ns cristatus aiiglonim) is stated to 

 differ from R. cristatus typicjis of continental Europe by the upper 

 surface being darker and more olivaceous, and the slightly duller under 

 surface, while the size, as a rule, is less. The north European bird 

 frequently crosses to Britain in flocks during autumn and winter. 



Fire-erested Wren 



(Regulus 



ignieapillus). 



With a much more restricted range, which excludes 

 Scandinavia, and does not extend farther east than 

 the Baltic, south Russia, and Asia Minor, the fire- 

 crested wren is an occasional visitor to England for 

 the winter -months, chiefly confined to the eastern counties, and un- 

 known in Ireland and prac- 

 tically so in Scotland, where, 

 however, a single occurrence 

 has been reported. 



In addition to being 

 slightly larger than the gold- 

 crest (total length nearly 4 

 inches), the male fire-crested 

 wren is distinguished by the 

 uniformly orange crown, 

 flanked on each side by a 

 broad black band, followed by 

 a white line, a second black 

 band running before and behind the eye : a patch of golden yellow 

 on each side of the neck affords an additional point of distinction, 

 the rest of the upper-parts being light yellowish green. In hens the 

 crown-patch, which is wanting in the young, is paler. 



The alleged occurrence of an example of the American ruby-crest 

 wren {Regulus calendula) in Scotland in 1852, seems open to doubt. 



FIKE-CKESTKD WREN. 



Water-Ouzel 



In the early days of British ornithology, a writer, 



,. ^„„„ impressed with the fact that the bird was not an 



(Cinelus aquatieus). ^ , . , . ^ , 



ouzel m the strict sense ot that term, proposed to 



replace the old English name of water-ouzel by that of " dipper " ; a 



2 L 



