46 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



no bits of lichen outside, but on closer inspection and. examina- 

 tion of the eggs it proved, to be a Goldcrest's [Regulus cristatus). 

 There were two eggs on the 17th, but the bird laid another 

 each day up to the 21st, when I photographed the nest. 

 Some explanation of the position is requisite. The straight 

 piece of timber crossing the picture obliquely is the upper 



NEST OF GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN IN HONEYSUCKLE. 

 (Photographed by H. E. Forrest.) 



part of a dead larch tree that has cracked across the middle 

 and turned over with its point resting on the ground. The 

 whole is swathed in a mass of old Ironeysuckle-stems, and it 

 is to these that the nest is fastened in such a position that 

 the larch-pole forms a sloping roof over it. There are scarcely 

 any leaves to conceal the nest, and it is only about five feet 



