REGULUS. INSESSORES. REGULUS. 231 



and a few days previous to the long-continued snow-storm so 

 severely felt through the northern counties of England, and 

 along the eastern parts of Scotland. The range and point 

 of this migration are unascertained, but it must probably 

 have been a distant one, from the fact of not a single pair 

 having returned to breed, or pass the succeeding summer, 

 in the situations they had been known always to frequent. 

 Nor was one of the species to be seen till the following Oc- 

 tober, or about the usual time, as I have above stated, for 

 our receiving an annual accession of strangers to our own in- 

 digenous birds. 



In habits the Regulus approaches to the genus Par us, as 

 well as to some of the smaller species of Sylvia. It frequent- 

 ly associates with the Parus caudatus, ater, and coerttleus, is 

 similar to them in its gestures, and is equally active and un- Food, 

 intermitting in search of its food, which consists principally 

 of different species of culices and tipulce, with aphides and 

 their larvae. 



It is found throughout Europe, and as far to the north- 

 ward as the Arctic Circle. 



PLATE 47. Fig. 4. The male bird, natural size. 



Bill black. Feathers of the crown of the head elongated General 

 and silky, of a rich orange, fading on the sides into |J escn P- 

 gamboge-yellow. On each side of this crest is a list of 

 black. Cheeks, under part of the neck, and upper 

 parts of the body, fine wax-yellow. Quills brownish- 

 black, margined with wine-yellow. Greater coverts 

 tipped with yellowish-white. Base of the bill, region 

 of the eyes, and all the lower parts, yellowish- grey ; but 

 with a tinge of brown upon the breast. Legs and feet 

 brown. 



The crest of the female is not so bright in colour as that 

 of the male bird ; in other respects she does not exhibit 

 any difference. 



