316 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



brilliant yellow olivaceous green (gelblick olivenyrun); the forehead, 

 a very broad eye-streak, and the sides of the face down to the neck 

 are of a beautiful pure and rich yellow colour ; the lores and ear- 

 coverts are blackish intermixed with yellow ; the foreneck and 

 upper breast are of a uniform deep velvety black, this colour being 

 continued downward in two broad stripes along the white sides. 

 The breast, belly and under tail-coverts are white, penetrated by 

 a yellowish sheen. The upper tail - coverts are of a very pure 

 bluish grey, the same colour forming the borders of the black 

 feathers of the wings and tail ; in the posterior flight-feathers 

 this grey passes into a greyish white, and forms two pure white 

 very striking bands on the tips of the greater and lesser wing- 

 coverts. The two outer pairs of tail-feathers are white, their outer 

 webs being black towards the tip, and the black colour extending 

 upwards along the outer side of the shaft in the form of a narrow 

 sharply defined stripe ; in the next pair of tail-feathers the white 

 colour persists only in the form of a large white spot on the inner 

 web, and the three central pairs are entirely black. In my example, 

 which was shot in autumn, the feathers of the foreneck have broad 

 yellowish white edges which partially hide the black ground colour. 



In size this bird resembles a somewhat slender Wood Wren. 

 Its measurements are as follows : Total length, 4'64ins. (118 mm.); 

 length of wing, 319 in. (81 mm.) ; length of tail, 1-92 in. (49 mm.) : 

 length of tail uncovered by wing, '59 in. (15 mm.). The bill is 

 strong, and measures -39 in. (10 mm.), and the tarsus '71 in. 

 (18 mm.). 



In the construction of the wing this species differs from its 

 European relatives in that the first flight-feathers are not more or 

 less aborted, but in conjunction with the next feathers form the 

 points of the wings : the relations being as follows : Second and 

 third flight-feathers of equal length, fourth -04 in. (1 mm.) shorter, 

 and the first '04 in. (1 mm.) shorter than the fourth. The tail is 

 squarely truncate, the outer pair of feathers being scarcely per- 

 ceptibly shorter than the rest. 



Audubon says hi regard to the distribution of this species : 

 Numerous from Texas to Newfoundland. 



Crested Wren Regulus. The genus of these small, prettily 

 marked birds, which one might call the Humming-birds of the 

 North, embraces but very few species, some of which are distin- 

 guished by only very slight differences. Two of these species are 

 residents on the European continent, and also visit Heligoland 



