88 BIRD NOTES 



takable. If I hear it in the garden I feel sure 

 there is a cat about, or perhaps a marsh tit, or 

 one of the large blackheaded tits, or some other 

 bird that is not often there, and that is therefore 

 considered an intruder. 



I was myself severely scolded once by a golden- 

 crested wren. I was standing by the dining-room 

 window, which was closed, watching the pretty 

 little thing. It flitted to and fro, and twisted in 



GOLDEN-CHESTED WHEN 



and out of the branches of a rose-tree growing, 

 close to me, up the column of the verandah. 

 Suddenly it saw me, saw me in most alarming 

 proximity. But instead of at once flying away, it 

 put up its golden crest, clung fast to its twig, and 

 scolded. It was something between a hiss and a 

 groan or rather grunt ; in miniature of course, 

 but I felt it deeply. You laugh ? It is perfectly 

 true, I assure you. A dog knows when it is being 



