272 THE GOLD-CRESTED WREN. 



them just as they are leaving the nest. They eat readily meal- worms cut 

 small, flies, ants' eggs, and white hread soaked in boiled milk. 



MODE OF TAKING. As they are not fearful, they may easily be caught 

 by gently approaching the tree where one is perched, and merely striking 

 it with a limed twig fastened to a pole long enough to reach it. It may 

 be brought down also with water, in the manner adopted by M. Le 

 Vaillant, that is, by first putting into a gun the common charge of powder, 

 then a wadding of silk, then, as soon as the bird is within reach, two 

 spoonfuls of water are poured in and covered with a second wadding of 

 silk, which must not be rammed down hard, lest the water should reach 

 the powder below. This load, discharged at the distance of twenty paces, 

 is capable of wetting the bird so completely that it may be taken by the 

 hand ; but if there are hedges in the neighbourhood, or if a stronger bird 

 be fired at, a chaffinch, for instance, it may easily escape. 



Many gold-crested wrens may be caught by means of a hut set for any 

 small birds, when the way to attract them is known. They come in great 

 numbers to the water trap, and by their often repeated call of tzitt, tzitt, 

 give notice of sunset and the arrival of larger birds. 



They will soon grow tame enough to eat out of the hand. On account 

 of their delicacy, many often die before a person succeeds in rearing 

 one ; but when once accustomed to the house they will live a long time, 

 at least if not hurt by other birds, and if they do not swallow what they 

 cannot digest. 



ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES. The sraallness of their size, their elegance and 

 beauty, render them a pleasant acquisition ; but their song adds to their 

 attractions, for though weak it is very melodious, and resembles that of 

 the canarv. 



THE HON. AND REV. W. HERBERTS ACCOUNT OP THE 

 GOLD-CRESTED WREN. 



The golden-crested wren and the common brown wren are 

 both very impatient of cold. In confinement, the least frost 

 is immediately fatal to them. In a wild state they keep them- 

 selves warm by constant active motion in the day, and at 

 night they secrete themselves in places where the frost cannot 

 reach them ; but I apprehend that numbers do perish in severe 

 winters. I once caught half a dozen golden wrens at the 

 beginning of winter, and they lived extremely well upon egg 

 and meat, being exceedingly tame. At roosting time there 

 was always a whimsical conflict amongst them for the inside 

 places, as being the warmest, which ended of course by the 

 weakest going to the wall. The scene began with a low 

 whistling call amongst them to roost, and the two birds on 

 the extreme right and left flew on the backs of those in the 



