The Fire-Crested Wren. 89 



extended range northward tlian its congener, and althongh it appears to have 

 straggled to the Faroes, it is unknown in Scandinavia ; barely reaches Denmark ; 

 and does not occur to the north-east of the Baltic Provinces of Germany. To 

 some parts of the Rhine district it is rather partial in summer ; and, although 

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

 and Southern Germany, Greece, Turkey, and Southern Russia. In the Taurus 

 Range of Asia Minor, it is more abundant than the Gold-crest. In the mountain 

 forests of Algeria, and in some parts of Southern Europe, the Fire-crest is 

 resident throughout the year ; its numbers being augmented in the winter by 

 migrants from the north." 



Herr Gatke says :— " This species is a little smaller, and b}' reason of its 

 black eye-streak, still somewhat more prettily marked bird than the preceding. 

 It visits Heligoland almost as regularly as the latter, but invariablj^ in very small 

 numbers. In the spring it arrives somewhat sooner, and in the autumn somewhat 

 later than R. flavicapilltis — and thus may be said in a sense to open and close the 

 migration of the crested Wrens." 



In England specimens of the Fire-crest have been obtained since 1832, when 

 a cat slaughtered the first recognized specimen ; the following counties have at 

 various times witnessed its destruction : — Cumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Lanca- 

 shire, N. Wales, Norfolk, Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Devonshire, 

 Oxon, Cornwall, and the Scilly Islands. One specimen is said to have occurred in 

 Scotland in 1848, and one was supposed to have been seen at Tralee, in Ireland; 

 but both of these occurrences are considered to be open to doubt. 



In general appearance the Fire-crest greatly resembles the Gold-crest, but 

 dififers in its yellowish frontal band, whiter superciliary streak, frequently more 

 orange crown, a second black streak passing from the gape through the eye, and 

 a third moustachial streak ; the sides of neck and the shoulders washed with 

 sulphur yellow; feathers of wings and tail brown, with yellowish-green edges; the 

 greater and median wing-coverts tipped with white and the primary coverts dark 

 brown ; under parts dull huffish white ; bill blackish brown, feet dark brown, iris 

 hazel. 



The female is duller in colouring than the male and has a paler crest ; 

 young birds have the crown of the same colour as the rest of the iipper surface, 

 only acquiring the yellow colouring after the first moult. 



The habits, haunts and even the nest and eggs of this species are extremely 

 like those of its near relative the Gold-crest; the nest is similarly suspended and 

 is usually formed of moss felted with spiders' cocoons and thickly lined with 

 feathers. If the branch in which it is placed chances to be covered with lichens. 



