FIRECREST, 459 
extend behind the eye. This species appears to be confined to Madeira. 
The next nearest ally to the Common Firecrest is apparently confined to 
the Canary Islands. It has the olive-green nape of R. ignicapillus and the 
large bill of R. maderensis ; but may be distinguished from either of them 
by having the lores greyish white as in R. cristatus. As these differences 
have apparently escaped the notice of naturalists, I propose to call the bird 
Regulus teneriffe. The fourth species, R. satrapa, is confined to the 
Nearctic Region. It has the greyish-white lores of R. teneriffe, but may 
_ easily be distinguished from that species by its very small bill, which only 
- measures‘4inch. The eastern form of this bird has the upper back greyish 
brown instead of olive-green; but the western form approaches the Pale- 
arctic species in colour. 
The haunts of the Firecrest are very similar to those of the Golderest ; 
and the habits of the two birds bear great resemblance. The Firecrest is 
a very common bird in the pine-woods near Arcachon; and wherever you 
come across a party of Crested Tits or Coal Tits they are generally aécom- 
panied by either the Goldcrest or the Firecrest, whether you happen to be 
in the pine forests or in the gardens of the villas where Scotch firs are the 
prevailing trees. Their presence is at once betrayed by their soft notes, a 
monotonous z7¢-zit, which is continually uttered as they are busily employed 
feeding on insects under the leaves of the overhanging trees, and becomes 
a rapid 2-z-z-zit as they chase each other from tree to tree, or fly off in 
_ alarm at your movements. If you remain perfectly still they will some- 
_ times come and feed close to you, occasionally two or three of them within 
a few feet of your head. It is very curious then to watch their movements. 
They twist in and out among the slender twigs, sometimes with head down 
and sometimes with feet up; but by far the most curious part of the per- 
formance is when they come to the end of the twig and examine the under 
surface of the leaves at its extremity. They have nothing to stand upon; 
so they flutter more like bees than birds from leaf to leaf, their little wings 
beating as hard as they can go, indeed beating so fast that they look trans- 
parent, their bodies all the time being nearly perpendicular. Of course it 
is only on large-leaved oaks, and the shrubs that form the underwood in 
; _ the garden, that you can examine them closely. In the pine forest, where 
all the branches for twenty feet are broken off for fuel, you require a glass 
to see them well. The Firecrest seems a much more restiess bird than the 
Goldcrest, and does not apparently examine each tree so patiently. It 
seems to be more in a hurry, and to prefer the pines to the underwood. 
| Dixon, when in Algeria, made the following notes respecting this 
bird :— The Firecrest is a fairly common bird in some parts of the Djebel 
Aurés, both in the evergreen-oak forests above Lambessa and the cedar 
forests south-west of Batna. These forests clothe the steep mountain- 
sides, which are here and there split into romantic ravines, on the sides of 
See 
Se kes 
ad 
ahi 
