56 THE WARBLERS 



ment of their fairy visitors during the twenty minutes or so of their 

 stay. What the goldcrests found to eat I cannot imagine, but the 

 apparently bare ground provided this merry little party with abundant 

 food for conversation at any rate. 



Sometimes when strolling through the dark winter woods, every 

 footstep deadened by the thick carpet of pine needles or wet leaves, 

 the silence will suddenly be broken by a very babel of shrill voices, 

 and on looking up you will see the branches of some overhanging pine 

 alive with small birds tits, goldcrests and others of their kind. But 

 the merriest sounds will come from the kinglets and coal-tits ; for of 

 all the Titmice family, the latter birds seem the favourite companions 

 of the goldcrest ; perhaps because both are almost exclusively insec- 

 tivorous. They may remain some time in one spot, or move rapidly on ; 

 their cheerful laughter ringing through the desolate aisles but with 

 no unholy mirth then, as their sounds die away into the distance, 

 silence once more settles down upon the waiting woods ; and the tall 

 dark inscrutable pines, rigid as sentinels, show no sign of gladness or 

 sorrow at the passing of this little band of wanderers. 



THE FIRE-CREST 



[E. L. TURNER] 



The fire-crest seems to be a rare straggler to these shores, but per- 

 haps is sometimes overlooked, owingto the general resemblance between 

 it and the goldcrest. In March 1907 Mr. H. S. Alexander and I watched 

 a pair of fire-crests near Tunbridge Wells several days in succession. 

 Each time we went in search of them they were hunting the same tall 

 hedgerow for food, and allowed us to come quite close after a little 

 patient stalking. The broad white eye-stripe and black streak on 

 either side of the head readily distinguished them from some goldcrests 

 near at hand. There was also a slight difference between the call- 

 notes of the two species, the " zit-zit " of the fire-crests seemed fainter, 



