90 OLTx NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



says, that in confinement the least cold proves 

 fatal to them. This gentleman once took half a 

 dozen of these golden wrens at the beginning of 

 winter ; they became exceedingly tame, and throve 

 well upon eggs and meat. " At roosting time," 

 lie observes, " there was always a whimsical 

 conflict among them for inside places, as being tlie 

 warmest, which ended, of course, in the weakest 

 going to the wall. The scene began with a low 

 whistling call among them to roost, and the birds 

 on the extreme right and left, flew on the backs 

 of those in the centre, and squeezed themselves 

 into the middle. A fresh couple from the flanks 

 immediately renewed the attack upon the centre, 

 and the conflict continued till the light began to foil 

 them. A severe frost in February killed all but 

 one of them in a night, though in a furnished 

 drawing-room. The survivor was preserved in 

 a little cage by burying it every night under the 

 sofa cushions ; but liaving been, one sharp morning, 

 taken from under them before the room was 

 sufficiently warmed by the fire, though perfectly 

 well when removed, it was dead in ten minutes." 



White has remarked that the golden-crested 

 wren will stand unconcerned till you come within 



