PASSE EES. { 65 ) SYLVIIDAi.. 



THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 



GOLDEN-CRESTED KINGLET, GOLDEN-CROWNED WREN, 

 MARIGOLD FINCH. 



Regulus cristatus. 

 '^tc Sl^iUeu'0 ^t)umli, ^Ije oaiearp or tiailjeac^ 



Lovely bird! with thy golden crozvn, 



A kind and tender nurse art thou, 

 Making thy nest of moss and down, 



And hanging it 07t the beftding bough. 

 There, rocked by the wave of the zephyr's wings. 

 Amid the green branches it lightly swings, 

 And a few clustering leaves of the forest-tree 

 Will serve to shelter thy cradle and thee ; 

 Concealing thee safely f-om every eye. 

 Until datiger and fear have pass' d thee by. 



Sir Walter Scott, Minstrelsy of the Woods. 



Although this interesting and beautiful little bird is 

 generally to be found in our fir woods all the year round, 

 yet it is a partial migrant ; for those which remain here 

 during winter receive additions to their numbers from the 

 south in spring, and many leave us for a warmer climate in 

 autumn.^ They are seen passing the lighthouses on the 

 sea-coasts of England and Scotland, including those at the 

 Fame Islands and the Isle of May, while on migration in 



1 In some districts of the county most of the Golden-Crested Wrens seem to 

 have migrated southwards on the approach of the terrible winters of 1878-79, 

 1879-80, and 1880-81. Mr. Hardy, Oldcambus, writing on the effects of the 

 winter of 1878-79, says that "the fir-tree tops were tenantless during the 

 summer of 1879 as far as regards Gulden-Crested Wrens." — Hist. Ber. Nat. 

 Club, vol. ix. p. 129. 



VOL. I. E 



