THE FIRE-CREST 57 



less shrill, and pitched in a lower key than the goldcrests'. Naumann 

 gives to both species a second call-note used only when sitting " se, 

 se, se" or "are, we, .STY." He says, too, that the song of the fire-crest 

 is louder, shorter, and simpler than that of the goldcrest : probably, 

 however, as the two fire-crests I saw and heard were strangers in 

 a strange land, they felt less expansive than they would have done if 

 quite at home. 



In general habits both birds are akin ; but, at any rate with us, 

 the fire-crest is not so sociable as the goldcrest, being seen only singly 

 or in pairs. Bailly, how r ever, says that numbers of fire-crests arrive 

 in Savoy during autumn and winter, and are decidedly gregarious. . . . 

 " They arrive in couples, male and female, or in threes and fours at a 

 time, and frequently in troops of from eight to a dozen individuals. 

 When migrating these birds often associate with the common species. 

 Like the latter they approach dwelling-houses, frequent gardens, parks, 

 and orchards, and sustain themselves on the same food. During very 

 cold days they are in the habit of puffing out their feathers so as to 

 appear twice their natural size. The two sexes travel together, and 

 are very much attached to each other." 1 This latter remark still 

 further tends to prove that many species do pair for life, even though 

 more or less migrator}'. But evidently this bird is more conservative 

 than the goldcrest, and prefers the old regime to launching out into 

 new-fangled ways and mixing with all sorts and conditions of birds ; 

 for, after all, the Tits and their allies are just a little free and easy. 



" Their manners have not that repose 

 Which stamps the caste of Vere de Vere." 



The first specimen of a fire-crest obtained in England was killed 

 by a cat in a garden near Cambridge in August 1832, and exhibited 

 with much eclat before the Zoological Society that year. Fame comes 

 in curious ways and often too late. Surely a strange irony of fate that 

 a new bird should be added to the British list by the so-called " harm- 

 less necessary cat " ! 



1 Bailly, Omithologie de la Savoie, ii. p. 454. (Fire-crest) 

 VOL. II. H 



