GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN 187 



tiny creatures remain with us, more or less, 

 throughout the year. If they disappear for a 

 time, they cannot be considered as regular 

 migrants, as they merely shift their quarters to the 

 more southern and warmer parts of the country. 

 I have heard it stated that at certain periods of 

 the year they brave the Channel passage and cross 

 over to Ireland, and that their lifeless bodies are 

 at times found in considerable numbers on the 

 coasts of that island, having been driven thither 

 by heavy gales. I myself have had no such ex- 

 perience of them, and so can but quote the state- 

 ment. Nearly every year one or two pairs of 

 these birds build in my garden in a large cedar- 

 tree. When the young ones -first leave the nest, 

 and are still weak on the wing, they are the 

 funniest little objects. I have often caught them 

 and put them back into their nest ; but in a few 

 minutes they flutter out again. So delicately 

 formed are they that it seems almost impossible 

 to handle them without injuring them. Their 

 note is a curious, weak, jarring chirp ; Johns 

 describes it as resembling the noise made by 

 rubbing a damp finger lightly along a pane of 

 glass. They are more abundant, or, rather, visible 

 in greater numbers, during the winter months, if 

 the weather keeps mild and open, and, apparently, 

 congregate in small flocks. In the summer, when 

 the foliage is thick, it is an exceedingly difficult 

 matter to see them at all, even though their note 

 may be audible. 



