88 OUR ^'ATm: songsters. 



greener fir-trees for a shelter, most closely in- 

 specting every twig for the insects which swarm 

 on the trmik and among the foliage of the dark 

 yew-tree, or the towering pine. From their 

 being so easily secreted among the leaves, some 

 AVTiters have thought the gold-crests less abun- 

 dant in our island than they are now known 

 to be. They appear to be very general in the 

 northern parts of Britain, haunting especially the 

 somewhat moist woods where the beech and fir 

 overtop the gTowth of brambles and other under- 

 wood at their base, nothing seeming to delight 

 them so well as tlie sombre foliage of the cedar, 

 the yew and the pine. 



It seems wonderful that so delicate a bird can 

 brave the severity of our winters, and it can only 

 be by means of its incessant activity that it can do 

 so. The usual number of gold-crests is greatly 

 increased in autumn by the arrival of others which 

 come to pass the winter here, and it appears highly 

 probable, that in some seasons, some of our gold- 

 crests migrate into other lands. Though when 

 in our woods they scarcely make a longer flight 

 than from tree to tree, these little creatures can 

 brave the winds of ocean, sometimes settling on the 



