THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 



and sides. The female is not so brightly 

 coloured as her mate. 



The nest is generally, though not al- 

 ways, suspended from the branch of a 

 cedar, spruce, fir, yew, or holly tree at 

 varying heights from the ground. I have 

 seen it in a furze bush, and at an ele- 

 vation of thirty feet or more from the 

 ground in a fir tree. It breeds in shrub- 

 beries, plantations, and spinnies, and 

 makes its nest of green moss, lichens, 

 fine grass, spiders' webs, and hair beau- 

 tifully felted together and lined with 

 liberal quantities of down and feathers. 



The eggs number six or seven, as a rule, 

 and are pale flesh or yellowish-white in 

 ground colour, spotted and blotched with 

 reddish-brown, the markings being most 

 numerous at the larger end. 



The Gold-crest's song is like its singer 

 very small, soft, and sweet. It is 

 difficult to hear, especially towards the 

 end, unless the listener happens to be 

 very close. In the neighbourhood of 

 Birmingham I once had the pleasure of 

 listening to a bird of this species in an 

 evergreen hedge only two or three feet 

 away from me, and was greatly surprised 

 at the sweet melodiousness of its limited 

 notes. 



249 



