FIRE-CRESTED WREN. 457 



been met with in Cornwall, chiefly in Lariggan Valley, as 

 stated by Mr. Rodcl. One example has been taken in 

 Devonshire, one in the Isle of Wight, twelve have come 

 to the notice of observers in Sussex, one is said to have 

 been taken in Kent, one in Norfolk, one in Yorkshire, 

 and one in East Lothian. This last rests on the authority 

 of Dr. Turnbull, and, except the original Cambridgeshire 

 specimen, is the only one said to have been obtained in 

 summer — the rest having occurred between September and 

 April, but mostly in the depth of winter. 



Although this species is perhaps nowhere so numerous 

 as the preceding, the general resemblance in the two birds 

 has possibly caused the rarer one to be occasionally over- 

 looked; but, on the other hand, sanguine persons have 

 doubtless often thought they have seen the present in ex- 

 amples of the commoner species. The distinctions between 

 them were first pointed out by the eldest Brehm*, who 

 imparted his discovery of this bird to Temminck, and by 

 him it was described under the specific name since usually 

 applied to it, though Brehm himself two years later called 

 it Regulus jpyrocephalus (Beitrage, ii. p. 130). In general 

 habits both birds are very much alike, though, as will 

 immediately appear, the Fire-crested Wren has the more 

 limited range, and does not seem generally to winter even in 

 central Europe. The nest is precisely similar to that of the 

 Golden-crested Wren ; but the eggs have a much warmer 

 tint, being of a flesh- or pale salmon-colour, sometimes 

 marked with small red dots. They are from seven to ten in 

 number and measure from -51 to -47 by from -41 to '39 in. 



* It had previously been confounded by De Montbeillard and the elder Nau- 

 mann, with the common Regulus cristatus. In 1819, Vieillot (N. Diet. d'Hist. 

 Nat. Nouv. ed. xxix. p. 422) remarked that there seemed to him to be two races 

 of this bird, the second of which he called the ^'roitelet huppe a moustaches," 

 saying that he had met with it in North America, near Paris and elsewhere. In 

 1822 (Faun. Fran9. p. 231), he recognized this race as a species, naming it 

 R. mystaceus, but still kept together under that appellation the European and 

 American species, which, though much alike, are cleai-ly distinct. His name for 

 the former yields in priority to that of if/nlcapillus, but it seems doubtful whether 

 it should not stand for the latter, since and genei'ally called R. satrapa. 

 VOL. I, 3 N 



