THE GOLD-CREST. 



143 



ami I have seen them capture small moths on the wing. 

 While hunting for food, which appears to be all day long, 

 they are never still, fluttering from branch to branch, 

 hanging in all attitudes, and peering in all directions. 

 From time to time they utter their thin and wiry call-note, 

 which is by some compared to the cry of the shrew. It 

 might be mistaken for the jarring noise made by two 



branches which cross one another, or that of a damp finger 

 rubbed lightly along a pane of glass. Early in spring the 

 song commences; it is composed of about fifteen short 

 notes, rapidly uttered at an exceedingly high pitch, and 

 ending with a yet more rapid cadence. By the call-note or 

 song the vicinity of the bird is far more frequently detected 

 than by its actual appearance ; for the branches of firs in 



