92 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



With those gay wanderers, whose effulgent wings 

 With insect hum still flutter o'er the pride 

 Of Indian gardens." 



Nor is tlie nest of this little bird less remarkable 

 for beauty than is the bird itself. This is very 

 large in proportion to its architect, and has very 

 thick walls, composed chietiy of green moss 

 fashioned into a cup-like form, well interlaced with 

 spiders' webs, and covered over at the top, save 

 where one aperture admits the bird. The inside 

 might rather be said to be tilled than lined with 

 feathers, so ])lcntifully does the bird place them 

 for the warmtli and comfort of her young; and the 

 dwelling is swung, like a hammock, beneath the 

 bough of the yew, or cedar, or larch-tree, or some- 

 times placed among the i\y. The gold-crest would 

 seem to love well the shadow of green boughs, for it 

 often hangs the nest in such a manner as that a 

 sweeping branch shall fall over it, screening it 

 alike from the hot sun and the eye of the passer- 

 by. The eggs are from seven to ten in number, 

 and of a pale yellowish brown. 



The gold-crest is very generally distributed 

 over the southern counties of Enc:land, and is 

 plentiful in Wales. It is also common in the 



