5°4 



PERCHING BIRDS. 



a mouse. Its call-note is loud but monotonous. The hedge-sparrow is very- 

 subject to variation of plumage, specimens being often seen prettily pied with 

 white, sometimes symmetrically arranged, while pure white specimens are 

 occasionally met with. The adult has the head and sides of the neck bluish 

 grey, purest in the breeding-season ; while the wings and tail are dusky brown, 

 the back reddish brown streaked with darker brown, and the chin and throat 

 grey, the lower -parts being white. Altogether, thirteen representatives of the 

 genus are known. 



While some ornithologists refer the accentors to one distinct family 

 (Accentoridce) and the goldcrests to a second (Reg id idee), we prefer 

 to follow Professor Newton in including both in the same family as the warblers, 

 as is done in his edition of Yarrell's British Birds. In addition to their small 

 size, the goldcrests (Regidus) are characterised by the straight and slender beak, 

 which is compressed towards the point, where it is notched. The basally-placed 

 nostrils are covered by a single bristly feather, and there are numerous bristles 

 at the rictus of the gape. The rather long wings have the first primary nearly 

 half the length of the second, which is somewhat shorter than the third, and this 

 exceeded in length by the fourth and fifth. The tail has twelve feathers, and is 

 slightly forked ; the legs are long and slender, with elongated claws. An inhabitant 

 of the pine-forests of Europe, the tiny goldcrest (R. cristatus) is an exceedingly 

 hardy bird, contriving to obtain subsistence when others are famishing with 

 hunger. During the summer months it haunts gardens and the skirts of woods, 

 building its beautiful little nest upon the under surface of some coniferous tree 

 at very varying distances from the ground ; the nest itself — an exquisite 

 structure, chiefly of the softest moss and lined with the most delicate of feathers 

 — being sometimes finished as early as the middle of March, while fresh eggs may 

 be taken in the middle of July ; considerable latitude thus existing in the breeding- 

 season. The brooding female is never long away from the nest, and, even if 

 disturbed, only flits anxiously about the tree which contains her treasure, 

 uttering a low, troubled cry so long as she is conscious of being under observation. 

 If surveillance be removed, the little bird slips hastily on to her eggs, and probably 

 remains in the nest, trusting to the decorative skill with which she has adorned its 

 exterior to render her detection difficult. The eggs are white, suffused with reddish 

 buff. Montagu found that the female goldcrest would even venture into a room in 

 order to feed her captive young, and this not once in a way but all through the day. 

 When a brood of young goldcrests is going to roost, a scramble takes place among 

 the young for the warmest place ; all roosting in a row, and each endeavouring to get 

 an inside position. Although many of the goldcrests haunting the English hedge- 

 rows in winter have been bred in the country, the largest proportion congregating 

 in the coverts at that season are birds which have crossed the North Sea ; thousands 

 annually arriving upon the east coast of England, often much exhausted by their 

 travels. The adult male has the forehead olive-green, the crest being bright yellow 

 or orange, banded by a black stripe on either side ; while the upper-parts are olive- 

 green tinged with yellow, the wings dark brown edged with greenish yellow, and 

 the lower- parts greyish olive. The female has the crest pale yellow instead of 

 orange, while all her tints are more obscure than those of her partner. 



