128 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



yellowish- green. All the under -parts are greyish- 

 white, tinged with buff on the throat, breast, and 

 sides. Legs, toes, and claws brown. 



The female is less distinct in coloration, and 

 her crest is somewhat modified in size. 



Situation and Locality. Usually suspended from 

 the branch or branches of a spruce fir ; sometimes 

 a cedar, yew, or holly is selected. It is placed near the 

 end of a horizontal branch, at a height varying from 

 two or three to ten or twelve feet from the ground ; 

 rarely in bushes, although I have met with it in 

 furze ; in woods, plantations, spinneys, shrubberies, 

 and small clumps of trees, pretty generally through- 

 out the United Kingdom where suitable trees are 

 plentiful. Our full - page illustration is from a 

 photograph taken on the outskirts of a large 

 plantation in Norfolk. 



Materials. Green moss, lichens, fine grass, 

 spider-webs, caterpillar cocoons, and hair, beauti- 

 fully felted together, and lined with down and 

 feathers. It is a wonderfully compact little struc- 

 ture, for which its builder has been known to 

 steal materials from the nest of a Chaffinch close 

 by. 



Eggs. Four to ten ; generally six or seven. 

 Pale flesh colour, or very faint brown ; occasionally 

 white, spotted, and suffused, at the larger end 

 generally, with light reddish-brown. Size about .56 

 by .42 in. (See Plate III.) 



Time. March, April, May, and June. 



Remarks. Resident, and a winter visitor. Notes : 

 song, weak but pleasant ; call, a shrill tsit, tsit. 

 Local and other names : Golden-crested Wren, 

 Golden-crowned Knight, Golden-crested Warbler, 

 Gold-crested Wren, Gold -crowned Wren, "Wood- 



