THE GOLD-CRESTS. 157 



particular insects which it finds in those trees. Yew-avenues, 

 therefore, and fir- woods are sure to be tenanted by plenty of 

 Gold- Crests, whose note quickly leads to their detection, and 

 the birds may be seen hanging on to slender twigs or 

 climbing about the branches like little Mice, the males now 

 and then stopping to emit a musical little song. 



Nest. This is a beautiful structure of green moss, usually 

 suspended, like a hammock, under a branch of a pine- or 

 yew-tree, and very well concealed; but, according to Mr. Howard 

 Saunders, it has occasionally been found on the upper surface 

 of a branch, and even in a low bush. Besides the green moss, 

 of which the nest is generally composed, other materials, such 

 as spiders' webs and hair, are interwoven in the nest, and the 

 latter is also interlaced with the foliage of the b'anch on which 

 it is hung, while the inside is softly lined with feathers. 



Eggs. From five to eight in number. Ground-colour 

 dark isabelline, or creamy-white, with a darker ring round the 

 larger end. In the isabelline-coloured eggs this darker portion 

 appears uniform, the spots being so thickly clustered together 

 as to produce this effect. In the whiter eggs the large end is 

 distinctly spotted with reddish-brown, forming an irregular 

 zone, in which appear dark underlying markings. Axis, 0-5- 

 0-55 inch; diam., 0-4-0-45. (Plate XXX., Fig. 2.) 



THE FIRE-CREST. REGULUS IGNICAPILLUS. 

 (Plate XVII., Fig. 2.) 



Sylvia i^nicapilla^ Brehm, in Temm. Man. d'Orn., p. 231 

 (1820). 



Regulus ignicapillus, Macg., Br. B., ii., p. 416 (1839) ; Newt. 

 ed Yarr., i., p. 456 (1873); Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 459, 

 pi. 72 (1874); Seeb., Br. B., i., p. 458 (1883); B. O. U. 

 List Br. B., p. 15 (1883); Gadow, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., 

 viii., p. 83 (1883) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. v. (1887) ', 

 Saunders, Man., p. 57 (1889). 



Adult Male. Bright yellowish-green above ; the wings and 

 tail as in R. regulus, the wing-bars being very distinct ; crown 

 golden-orange, with a buff forehead and a broad band of black 

 along each side of the crown ; feathers through the eye blackish, 

 with a conspicuous streak of white between it and the black 



