GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 97 



GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 



Regulus cristatus ; Roitelet ordinaire ; Goldkopfige. 



Bill, black ; legs and claws, brown ; crest, orange- 

 yellow, with black band on each side ; forehead, whitish ; 

 head, on the sides, yellowish ; neck and back, olive- 

 green ; chin, throat, and breast, yellowish-grey ; tail, 

 dusky, with greenish-yellow margin. Length, three 

 inches and a half. 



The Golden-crested Wren is the smallest European 

 bird, and one of the most beautiful. Although a 

 common bird in Ireland, it is probably more frequently 

 overlooked than any of our resident song birds ; few, 

 indeed, save the ornithologist, seem to be aware of its 

 existence here. It is well known that its numbers are 

 greatly increased in Great Britain by the arrival in the 

 autumn of hundreds of birds from the North of Europe; 

 such an arrival of Gold-crests was witnessed by Mr. 

 Selby on the Northumberland coast, where great 

 numbers were SQ fatigued and overcome by a change 

 of wind, or by the length of their journey, as to drop 

 the moment they reached land, incapable of further 

 exertion. 



The habits of the Gold-crest are very similar to those 

 of the Tits, and the bird might possibly be mistaken at 

 a distance for a Blue or a Coal Tit ; the notes, however, 

 are different, and, as you draw nearer, the crest on the 

 head at once leads to its identification. Mr. Mudie 

 remarks of the Gold-crest that " it whisks about, now 

 on this side, now on that, more like a meteor than a 

 being of solid matter;" and certainly there is something 



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