The Golden-Crested Wren. 87 



consist wholly of small soft feathers. Some eggs which I have seen, were creamy- 

 white ; others, densely and minutely dusted all over with rusty-reddish ; others 

 again, with a deeper rust-red zone, or terminal nebula, at the larger extremity. 



The song of the Gold-crest is short, low, but pleasing ; though its call-notes 

 are thin and almost as shrill as the notes of a bat. Dixon in describing the song 

 calls it evilogistically " a few notes of matchless melody." 



This tiny bird haunts woods, shrubberies, plantations of fir, larch and other 

 conifers, yew-trees in churchj'ards and cemeteries, copses, orchards and gardens. 

 In its habits it greatly resembles the Tits, dropping from spray to twig, turning, 

 twisting, closely examining every inch of its swaying perch for insect prey, and 

 incessantly uttering its high piercing whistle; then, gliding rapidly from the end 

 of some feathery spra}', it passes on to another tree and recommences its acrobatic 

 performances. Like the Tits also, this little bird is wonderfully confiding : one 

 autumn whilst standing on a balcony leading by steps into the garden of the 

 house which I then inhabited, I heard the shrill note of this species just above 

 my head, and looking upwards saw a pair of Gold-crests clambering about over 

 a jasmine which I had trained to cover a wire arch above the doorway ; they 

 appeared to be qiiite indifferent to my presence not a foot below them. 



Stevenson, in his " Birds of Norfolk," after speaking of the well ascertained 

 fact that thousands of these tiny birds in the autumn come to swell the numbers 

 of our residents, observes: — "Perhaps the most striking instance, however, of the 

 migration of the Gold-crest, in large numbers, to our eastern coast, was witnessed 

 by Captain Longe, of Great Yarmouth, on the morning of the 2nd of November, 

 1862. In a letter to myself at the time, he says 'As I was walking to Hemsby, 

 about 7-30 when it was just daylight, about half a mile out of Yarmouth, on the 

 Caister road, my attention was attracted to a small bush overhanging the marsh 

 dyke, which borders the pathway, by the continuous twittering of a small bird. 

 On looking closel}', I found the bush, small as it was, literally covered with 

 Golden-crested Wrens. There was hardly an inch of twig that had not a bird 

 on it, and even from my rough attempt at calculation at the time, I feel sure 

 there were at least between two and three hundred. Most of them were either 

 females or young birds, having a lemon-coloured crest ; they were perfectly tame, 

 and although I sat down on the other side of the ditch, within six feet, and 

 watched them for some time, they did not attempt to fly away ; but one or more 

 would occasionally rise off its perch, hover like a butterfly, and settle again in 

 some other position. I went the next morning to look for them, but they were 

 all gone. The wind had been easterly, with much fog.'" 



The food of the Gold-crest consists principally of insects, small spiders, &.c. ; 



Y 



