A LIILIPUT1AN GYMNAST. 65 



lime. He is so fond of the company of other birds, that, 

 when he finds himself alone, he becomes disquieted ; his 

 prolonged tiny chirp grows plaintive ; and he flies to and 

 fro in quest of comrades. He may be regarded as a trust- 

 worthy barometer, for, prior to rainy weather, his song is 

 very loud and incessant. Devoted to the pursuit of insects 

 or their larvae, he seems to pay no attention to the passer-by ; 

 he flutters vivaciously from branch to branch, and puts him- 

 self in all imaginable positions, sometimes with his head 

 upwards, sometimes with his head downwards. We have 

 often watched, with extreme gratification, the acrobatic 

 tricks of our Lilliputian gymnast. Occasionally, before he 

 perches, you will see him, in a frenzy of indecision, rapidly 

 agitating his wings, and revolving them like a wheel. If 

 you look at him, while thus engaged, against the light, you 

 will think you see a tiny, ethereal, diaphanous spinning-top. 

 After " assisting " at such a spectacle, which the first wood 

 will furnish, you will not be indisposed to admit with us, 

 that the bird designated by the Greeks r^/Xof, or "little 

 wheel," and whose identity has so often been discussed, 

 was, in reality, our golden-crested knight. Moreover, he 

 is a true cosmopolite, in every acceptation of the word. 

 Not only does he never quit us, not only does he remain 

 faithful to us throughout the year, but we meet with him 

 over all Europe. He is also found in Asia, and even, it 

 is said, in America, from the West Indies to Canada. His 

 flight being very short, it is supposed that he passed from 



one hemisphere to another by way of Behririg's Strait. It 



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