136 THE SMALLER BRITISH BIRDS. 



form some of the prettiest specimens of bird-architecture to be met 

 with. So closely do they assimilate to the branches to which they are 

 attached, that they are very difficult to discover. The eggs are smaller 

 than those of any other British bird, being not quite half an inch in 

 length. They are usually nearly round, and number from four to ten 

 or eleven; in colour they are brownish or reddish white, darker at the 

 larger end. While the female is sitting she is not easily disturbed, 

 permitting an intruder to almost touch her before she takes to flight. 

 When the young are hatched she is most active in supplying them with 

 food. Colonel Montagu timed one that fed her offspring in a nest 

 which had been taken from its original position, and placed in a room. 

 She visited them about once in every minute and a half or two minutes, 

 or on an average thirty-six times in an hour, and this was continued 

 for full sixteen hours in a day. The male would not venture into the 

 room, but the female was so tame as to continue her maternal duties 

 while the nest was held in the hand. Two broods appear to be reared 

 in each season, the first in March, and the second at the end of May 

 or the beginning of June. 



The male Goldcrest is a little over three and a half inches in length, 

 and weighs from seventy-six to eighty grains. The bill is black, the 

 mouth dusky orange, and the irides are hazel. The crest feathers are 

 bright yellow, tipped with orange, and bordered on each side of the 

 head by a narrow baud of black. The general colour of the upper 

 parts is pale yellowish brown, and of the lower light greyish brown. 

 The wing coverts are purple brown, bordered with yellowish green, 

 and tipped 'with white; the quills and tail feathers dusky, margined 

 with greenish yellow. The legs and feet are brown. The female re- 

 sembles the male, but is a little smaller, and not so brightly coloured; 

 the crest is lemon yellow. The young are without the yellow on the 

 head, and of a lighter colour than the adults. 



THE FIRECREST, 



(Regulus ignicapillus.) 



PLATE VIII. FIGURE VII. 



Rcgulus, a little king, ignis fire, and capillus the hair of the head, 

 are the Latin words from which the scientific name of this bird is 

 derived. It is a little larger than the species last described, and "although 

 similar in colouring," says Macgillivray, "is easily distinguished by its 

 two additional dusky bands on each side of the head. Its bill is slightly 



