107 



GOLDCEEST. 



GOLDEN-CRESTED KINGLET. GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. GOLDEN-CROWNED WREN. 



PLATE CXXXII. 



Regulus crixtatus, 

 Reyulus auricapilliix, 

 Regains vulgari*. 

 JIotaciHa reyuhi-s, 

 Sylvia regulm, 



FLEMING. RAT. 



SELBT. JEXYXS. 



GOULD. 



MONTAGU. 



PENNANT. TEMMENCK. 



THE nest is placed underneath and generally near the end of the 

 branch of a fir, or occasionally on an oak, cypress, holly, yew, or other 

 tree, as also not very nnfrequently in a laurustinus or other bush, and, 

 though very rarely, in a hedge, supported by some of the smaller off- 

 shoots, and further attached to these by the moss and lichens of which 

 it is composed being interwoven with them, mixed sometimes with 

 willow down, cocoons, spiders' webs, wool, grasses, and a few hairs. 

 It measures about three inches and a half in diameter inside, and is 

 deep and of a spherical shape, the orifice being almost always in the 

 upper part; some however are not perfectly round. It closely assimilates 

 in colour to the branch beneath which it is fixed. In a fir it is mostly 

 composed of moss, and in a thorn tree, of lichens. It is sometimes 

 placed near the top of the tree, and at others only two or three feet 

 from the ground: a very high gale has been known to dislodge the 

 eggs 'When the wind blows the cradle will rock/ These birds have 

 been known to steal the materials from the nests of Chaffinches to make 

 their own; one was noticed to do so most slily, watching its opportunity, 

 and approaching from the opposite direction; but on the Chaffinch 

 detecting and chasing it, it did not repeat the theft. 



The nest is frequently lined with feathers, and is altogether a singu- 

 larly elegant piece of architecture; the feathers are so placed as to 



