Golden-Crested Regains. 167 



occurrence in Wiltshire, which is one of the counties given by 

 Professor Newton as its abode.* But, in truth, wherever there 

 are open downs or heaths covered with furze, there I suspect this 

 shy solitude-loving species will be found by the patient watcher. 

 Montagu, who devoted much attention to this bird, says, that 

 'when roosting at night, like the Long-tailed Titmouse, they 

 assembled with a plaintive cry at a convenient spot chosen for 

 the night, and then each strove for an inner berth.' By day, he 

 pronounced them most active, almost in perpetual motion, 

 throwing themselves into various attitudes and gesticulations, 

 erecting the crest and tail at intervals, accompanied by a double 

 or triple cry, which seemed to express the words, ' Cha, cha, cha.' 

 Buffon called it ' Le Pitchou de Provence ; and it was there and 

 in other districts of Southern France, more especially on the 

 shores of the Kiviera near Cannes, that I first became acquainted 

 with it, though I afterwards became very familiar with it in 

 other southern lands. 



58. GOLDEN CRESTED REGULUS (Regulus cr-wtatus). 



Regulus, the diminutive of rex, as if ( a little king,' or 'kinglet ;' 

 in France, Roitelet ; and Kungs Vogel, or ' King's Bird,' in 

 Sweden, in whose vast forests it abounds as far north as the pine- 

 woods grow ; in Italy, regolo; but in Portugal, estrellinha, ' little 

 star.' Well known to everyone is this charming little favourite, 

 the smallest and most fairy-like of all our British birds ; three 

 inches and a half only in length, and 75 grains in weight, yet it 

 braves the cold of winter, and remains with us throughout the 

 year. Its numbers, however, are considerably increased in 

 autumn by the arrival of large flocks on the Eastern coast, which 

 reach our shores from Scandinavia early in October, and hence 

 the little bird is known in Yorkshire as the ' W T oodcock Pilot.'f 

 as it seems to lead the way to that species, so eagerly expected 

 by the sportsman and the epicure. It is almost inconceivable 



* Professor Newton in fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. i., 

 p. 399. 



t Cordeaux's ' Birds of the Humber District,' p. 37. 



