THE GOLD- CREST. 91 



three or four yards of it. Yet, tlioiigli not of a 

 mistrustful nature, the little bird is really very 

 timid on the approach of actual danger. If the 

 bough on which it is sitting is struck sharply with 

 a stick, it immediately drops to the ground from 

 terror, and is often taken up dead. Those who 

 require it for a preserved specimen, find this a 

 better mode of taking it than with the gun. In 

 our country the bird is not an article of food, but, 

 small as it is, it is eaten on some parts of the 

 Continent, and Montbeillard tells us that the 

 markets of Nuremberg abound with this little 

 gold-crest, great numbers being taken in the 

 environs of the city, by means of the bird-call. 

 Tliey become very tame in confinement, though 

 their small size enables them sometimes to creep 

 through the meshes of a net, and make their escape. 

 Their notes are sweet and pleasing, though not 

 strong. They have little variety, and the strain 

 temiinates abruptly. The beauty of these song- 

 sters has been well described by Gisborn, in his 

 " \Yalks in a Forest." 



*' Aloft in mazy course the golden wren 

 Sports on the boughs : she who, her slender form, 

 Yauntincr and radiant crest, half dares to vie 



