9 6 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



even in some crevice in a stack of cordwood. 

 Fine twigs form most of the outer structure, dry 

 grass, moss, and a lining of bark-strips complete 

 the pretty home. The six or eight eggs are pure 

 white, spotted with brownish red and gray. More 

 noisy and of brighter colours, as we have already 

 seen (see p. 40), the NUTHATCH is found especially 

 in our southern woods, but in autumn and winter 

 he becomes almost silent, and flits and creeps 

 about the trees unheard. 



There is another species which here claims a 

 widely passing notice, and that is the GOLDCREST (Regulus 

 ted ' cristatus), remarkable for being the smallest British 

 bird, something like a Willow Wren in general 

 appearance, but easily distinguished by the black 

 and orange crest and the white wing-bars. Truly, 

 indeed, it is a frail little creature, and as beautiful 

 as graceful. It is more a dweller in the larch 

 and fir woods than in those where the trees 

 are deciduous ; and here in the early springtime 

 its short but delicately sweet song may be heard 

 on every side, as rival males sing in concert. Its 

 charming nest made in April or May is slung 

 hammock-like at the end of some drooping fir- 

 branch, and is almost as remarkable for beauty 

 and design as that of the Long-tailed Titmouse 

 or the Chaffinch, moss, lichens, spiders' webs, 

 hairs, and feathers forming the usual materials. 

 The eggs, from five to eight in number, are of 

 a reddish tinge, freckled with reddish brown, 

 the colouring matter sometimes forming a zone 

 or cap at the larger end of the egg. The food 

 of the Goldcrest is composed of insects and 

 seeds, according to season. In autumn these 

 birds become gregarious, and then wander far 



