130 HABITS OF BIRDS. 
ti 
A ANY \ 
et 
y 
—_— 

Condor attacking a Puma. 
of ranking among eagles, being evidently, both from 
structure and habits, nothing but a vulture. 
We can readily understand why the least of our 
British birds, the gold-crested wren (Regulus chris- 
tatus, Ray) should have been considered a royal 
bird in most countries, from its having a fine coronet 
of a bright gold-colour on its head, as Aristotle cor- 
rectly remarks.* But why the common wren (Anon. 
thura communis) should be called a king-bird, we 
e€annot conjecture, except it has been from irony 
or antiphrasis, in the same way as M. Hebert tells 
us it is called the ox (4euf) in some provinces of 
France. From being unable to account for the lat- 
* Hist. Anim., viii., 3. 
