BRITISH SONG-BIRDS. 153 



in more northern latitudes : It haunts deep woods 

 and sequestered forests, where it likes to build. 

 Its manners are similar to those of the titmouse. 

 We have seen it flitting from tree to tree, and 

 creeping up their trunks, searching for insect 

 food, — exactly like the titmice. 



Montagu remarks : — " The nest is not made with 

 an opening on one side as described by some, but 

 is, in form and elegance, like that of the chaffinch, 

 composed of green moss, woven \vith wool, and 

 invariably lined with feathers, with which it is so 

 well bedded as to conceal the eggs." This we 

 know to be true ; and, to corroborate the fact, a 

 gentleman, on whose knowledge we can depend, 

 found one concealed under the branch of a larch 

 tree in an old avenue : it was lined with fea- 

 thers and down, and contained twelve eggs of a 

 dingy reddish-white colour, faintly inclining to 

 brown, particularly at the large end ; their size was 

 not much above that of peas r The cock was shot 

 flying from the nest, and the hen was found in 

 the nest, taken, and brought away with it. 



Colonel Montagu found a golden-crested ^vren's 

 nest containing ten young, in a fir-tree in his gar- 

 den : he took it when the nestlings were about six 

 days old,, and brought it to his study- window to see 

 G 2 



