124 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



of matchless beauty. Ever in motion, like the Tits, birds 

 by the way they most closely resemble in habits and 

 motions, truly they are engaging little creatures, and 

 their trustfulness is probably greater than any other 

 feathered denizen of the grove. 



In the autumn and winter months our resident Gold 

 Crests are largely increased in numbers by birds from the 

 cold and dreary north. Though this species cannot be 

 called gregarious, it is eminently a social one, for not only 

 does it associate with its own kind, but with the Tits, the 

 Willow Warblers, and other little songsters, although at 

 the close of day you seldom or never see more than a pair 

 roost in company. In the autumn and winter the peren- 

 nial foliage of the evergreen is their only roosting-place 

 at night. 



