72 BRITISH BIRDS 



right, strained her little beak at right angles, and her throat in the 

 same fashion, to make the most of her fizgig of a song, and kept 

 on jumping and jerking and frisking about, for all the world as 

 though she was worked by steam ; well, that's more the character 

 of the Dartford warbler, or, as we call her, the furze-wren. AVhcn 

 the leaves are off the trees and the chill winter winds have driven 

 the birds to the olive-gardens of Spain, or across the Straits, the 

 furze-wren is in the height of his enjoyment. I have seen them by 

 dozens skipping about the furze, lighting for a moment on the very 

 point of the sprigs, and instantly diving out of sight again, singing 

 out their angry, impatient ditty, for ever the same. Perched on the 

 back of a good tall nag, and riding quietly along the outside, while 

 the foxhounds have been drawing the furze-fields, I have often 

 seen these birds come to the top of the furze. . . . They prefer 

 those places where the furze is very thick, and difficult to get in. ... 

 And although it is so numerous in winter, and so active and noisy 

 when disturbed by dogs and guns, still, in the breeding season it is 

 a shy, skulking bird, hiding itself in thick places, much in the 

 manner of the grasshopper lark, and seldom allowing one to hear 

 the sound of its voice.' 



Spring is, however, the season of the furze-wren's greatest ac- 

 tivity : its lively gestures, antics, and dancing motions on the topmost 

 sprays of the bushes are then almost incessant, as it pursues the 

 small moths and other winged insects on which it feeds ; and its 

 curious and impetuous little song is then delivered with the greatest 

 vigour. It has also a harsh, scolding note, uttered several times in 

 rapid succession, and a loud musical call-note. 



The nest is placed among the dense masses of the lower, dead 

 portion of a thick furze-bush. It is a flimsy structure, composed of 

 dead furze-leaves, small twigs, and grass-stems, lined with finer 

 stems, and sometimes with horsehair. Four or five eggs are laid, 

 white in ground-colour, sometimes tinged with buff or with greenish, 

 thickly spotted and freckled with pale brown over paler brown and 

 grey markings. Two broods are reared in the season. 



Golden-crested Wren, or Goldcrest. 



Regulus cristatus. 



Upper parts olive tinged with yellow ; cheeks ash-colour ; whig 

 greyish brown, with two transverse white bands ; crest bright yellow 



