160 DALMATIAN GOLD-CREST. 



this bird with the common species, and to exhibit 

 the markings on the head and cheeks by which 

 it is most easily at once distinguished from it. 

 The principal colours assimilate very closely with 

 those of the common Gold-crest. The upper 

 parts are of a more yellow tint, particularly on 

 the back and sides of the neck. The crest is of 

 the most brilliant orange or fire colour, as the 

 name indicates : it is surrounded in front and on 

 the sides with deep black, and above each eye, 

 from the 'nostril, the black is contrasted with a 

 line of clear yellowish white ; succeeding this 

 there is a second band of black passing through 

 the eyes, and a third stretching under from the 

 corners of the gape. In the female, the colour 

 of the crest approaches nearer to that of the 

 common bird ; but the three black bands always 

 serve to distinguish them, and, in ignorance of 

 the peculiarity of their call-note or song, as 

 pointed out by Mr Hoy, they are good marks to 

 be looked for when seeking this species among 

 the troops of our more abundant native. 



DALMATIAN GOLD-CREST REGULUS MO- 

 DESTUS, Gould. When Mr Gould published his 

 figure of a bird under this name in his Birds of 

 -S'.iropa, we expressed our suspicions that it might 

 be an immature specimen, or one in the nestling 

 plumage, of either of the two birds we have just 

 mentioned. The existence of only a single spe- 

 cimen, and the impossibility of examining it, 



