So 



is not nearly so subtle as the gold-crest s. Their one 

 rival among birds of comparatively greater bulk is the 

 chaffinch. And the slender beak is at least as efficient in 

 securing food as in the artist s work of building. Both 

 the jenny wren and the gold-crest are marvellous foragers. 

 Perhaps the secret partly lies in microscopic acuity of 

 vision. No remnant of any insect is too small for them, 

 though they will feed themselves and their young on 

 good fat caterpillars ; and the gold-crest is said to be 

 peculiarly skilful in discovering and devouring American 

 blight. 



Was this little bird English or Continental? The 

 latest and most scientific students of birds, or the anatomy 

 of birds, aver that they can distinguish the alien from the 

 English by the mere colour test. That strange army of 

 immigrant robins which reached the East Coast last year 

 in a state of utter weariness and hunger were alleged to 

 be of lighter hue than our English robins, as inland 

 foxgloves are lighter than foxgloves by the sea. The 

 home-grown goldfinch is said to be lighter than the 

 immigrant ; and if this little body in the matchbox were 

 sent farther for more expert inspection a verdict would 

 probably be procurable from, say, South Kensington or 

 Mr. Witherby, in High Holborn, The claim may be 

 well justified ; and it is, of course, demonstrably true 

 that the hordes of starlings which cross the North Sea 

 against the arrival of a Scandinavian winter are greyer in 

 hue than the purely British bird* Such differences are 

 being sought, and, perhaps, found, in other species 

 which are both stay-at-homes and visitors, such as wood- 

 pigeons, larks, crows, and blackbirds. 



There would be no excuse for an ignorant field natur 

 alist to deny the existence of such nice distinctions dis 

 coverable when the bird lies dead in the hand ; but, how 



