THE FIRECREST AS A BRITISH BIRD. 173 
by the circumstance that August is a very unlikely month in which 
to find the Firecrest here. 
If this be so, the example obtained in Cornwall in March, 
1845, must be regarded as the first recorded British specimen, 
while the Cambridge bird, which has been referred to as a 
Firecrest by every writer on British Ornithology, should be 
expunged altogether from the list. 
The Firecrest is a winter visitant, regularly to Cornwall, and 
occasionally to the rest of England, but the number of authentic 
records north of the Thames is small. It is strictly a winter 
visitant, and not one of the reported occurrences in summer 
can be considered as proved. 
One was killed at St. Leonard’s on the 9th of April, 1868, 
and I had it in the flesh, but this was clearly a late migrant. 
Another was taken in the autumn on the rigging of a ship off 
the coast of Norfolk, in the early part of October (Mag. of Zool. and 
Bot., p. 491), and some have been obtained in Sussex in that month, 
but these were doubtless migrants from Central Germany, whence 
after the breeding season a few find their way to Belgium and 
Heligoland, and fewer still to our own shores. 
It is remarkable that it should be a winter visitant, inasmuch 
as it does not breed—unlike other visitors at that season—any- 
' where in Europe in any latitude north of England. The Firecrests 
which visit the British Islands probably come by a lateral 
‘migration from Germany, and this is confirmed by no less than 
seven having been taken in the North Sea, close to our eastern 
coast, viz., the one already alluded to, five on another occasion 
(‘ Zoologist,’ 1888, p. 225), and one brought into Yarmouth and 
certified by Mr. Gunn, of Norwich. 
The Firecrest has been taken oftener in Cornwall than 
any other county; Rodd, Bullmore, and others testify to the 
numerous examples which have from time to time been met with. 
Indeed the late Mr. Vingoe, of Penzance, is the only naturalist 
who has described its habits in this country (Rodd, ‘ Birds of 
Cornwall,’ ed. Harting, p. 48). He mentions its great shyness 
and tendency to concealment, and its preference for the higher 
branches of trees. These traits are not noticed either by Mr. 
Dresser or Mr. Seebohm, who have described the habits of this 
bird as observed in Germany and France ; but something may 
be due to difference of locality. 
