122 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



branch which sustains it is shaken violently, and even 

 then she goes but a little distance away, so that you have 

 good opportunity of examining the parent and her 

 handiwork at the same time. You would probably think 

 that so many young birds in so small a nest are hard 

 pressed for room, yet this is never so ; and if you ex- 

 amine them closely you find all comfortable and con- 

 tented in their mossy home, which is swayed hither and 

 thither by every breeze that murmurs through the pine 

 woods in its passage from the hills above, awaiting the 

 advent of their parents with food. 



The food of the Gold Crest is composed partly of 

 animal and partly of vegetable substances, although the 

 former largely predominates. Insects of all kinds inhabit- 

 ing trees are preyed upon, and also those flying through 

 the air, which the birds secure in the same manner as 

 the Flycatcher, by sallying into the air. In the autumn 

 months various small seeds are eaten, as the birch and 

 heather, and many of the smaller berries. 



It is in the balmy days of autumn that we have the 

 best opportunity of studying the motions of the Gold 

 Crest. It is then and throughout the winter that we see 

 them in the hedgerows. The birds almost invariably 

 keep in pairs, and flit from bush to bush, now in the 

 centre, now on its topmost spray, then again diving 

 into its leafy depths, our only sign of its presence being 

 the trembling twigs which mark out its course. If you 

 seriously alarm them you find they at once seek seclusion 

 amongst the thickest foliage, and there remain for some 

 considerable time. But it is in the birch woods, when 

 October's mellow month paints those lovely trees in 

 yellow of the brightest dye, that we notice these charm- 

 ing little creatures in greatest abundance. There we 

 see them in pairs or little parties exploring the twigs of 



