GOLDCRESTS 211 



boughs of trees, where the hoar-frost is not so 

 thick. Others are seen to climb the dead nettle- 

 stalks, and send down little showers of snow- 

 crystals as they move about. Following these, 

 and uttering their shrill zee-zee-zee, are tiny Gold- 

 crests, the males showing their deep golden crests, 

 while the hens can be distinguished by these 

 feathers being of a pale lemon colour. In the 

 glade stands the bush that the Blackcap used tc 

 sing upon ; and now there is a Chaffinch sitting 

 on one of the frost-covered branches, the Blackcap 

 having left to bask in continual summer among 

 green groves and flowers and warmth of the sunny 

 South. 



What a charming life it would be if we, like 

 the summer Warblers, could always live in spring 

 and summer, among flowers and flitting butterflies 

 and darting dragon-flies, and where birds are 

 always singing ! It must be a perfect life. The 

 dull days must come, however ; and like the 

 Chaffinch in the frost, we know that they will 

 pass, and that: the first thaw after winter is a 

 harbinger or promise of spring. If only we had 

 the contentment of birds, how much of worrying 

 it would save us ! 



Take the contented Goldcrests, for instance. 

 Those in the fairy glade were perhaps reared in 



