29S cassell's book ov birds. 



THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 

 The Golden-crested Wren (Jltgulus cristatus, Jlavicapillus, or auricapillus) is yellowish green 

 on the mantle, and light grey beneath ; the throat is whitish grey ; the crown of the head is saffron 

 yellow, its sides golden yellow, decorated with a black stripe ; the wings are enlivened by two light- 

 coloured bands. In the plumage of the female all the tints are duller, and the yellow on the head 

 paler than in her mate. The young are entirely without the bright colouring on the head. This 

 species is three inches and two-thirds long, and five inches and five-sixths broad. The wing measures 

 one inch and five-sixths, and the tail an inch and a half. The Golden-crested Wren is the only 

 member of this family found in Scandinavia, and it also breeds as far south in Europe as Greece, but 

 is seldom seen in Spain. Notwithstanding the apparent delicacy of these birds, they are capable of 

 sustaining an unusual degree of cold, and great numbers pass the entire winter in the pine forests of 

 Sweden. In England and Ireland they also remain throughout the whole year, but we are told that 

 those living in the Orkneys wander as far as the Shetland Isles when the cold sets in. A most 

 Extraordinary circumstance that took place in 1823 is related in the Memoranda of the Wernerian 

 Society, namely, the total disappearance of the whole race of these birds, natives as well as 

 strangers, throughout Scotland and the north of England. This happened towards the end of 

 January, a few days previous to the continued snowstorm that was felt so severely in the northern 

 counties of England and the eastern parts of Scotland. The range and route of this migration are 

 unascertainable, but it was most probably a distant one, from the fact of not a pair having returned 

 to breed or pass the succeeding summer in the situations they had been known always to frequent ; 

 nor was one of this species to be seen till the following October, about the usual time for our 

 receiving an annual accession of strangers to our indigenous birds. Like their congeners, these tiny, 

 delicate Wrens principally frequent fir and pine forests, about the branches of which they scramble 

 with wonderful agility, hanging head downwards from the twigs, or darting like meteors from branch 

 to branch, in a restless and incessant search for the insects upon which they subsist. Their voice is 

 gentle and twittering, and their song occasionally uttered as they hover in the air over a bush or 

 shrub. During the period of incubation, which frequently commences as early as February, the 

 males endeavour to attract the attention of their future partners by spreading the beautiful crest 

 upon their heads, and indulging in a variety of animated and excited movements, as they hop or 

 fly about the spot where the desired mate is perching. The nest is spherical, usually placed at the 

 extremity of a branch, beautifully constructed of moss or lichen, and in most instances snugly 

 lined with feathers, cotton wool, or down from plants. The eggs, from six to ten in number, have a 

 pale reddish white or yellowish white shell, finely spotted with red, and are scarcely larger than peas, 

 not exceeding six lines in length, and five in diameter. So voracious are the young, that Colonel 

 Montague observed the mother come thirty-six times in an hour with morsels for her craving family, 

 and continue her labours without intermission for sixteen hours in the day. Mr. Selby tells us that 

 he has seen fully-fledged young by the end of April. 



THE DALMATIAN WREN. 

 The Dalmatian Wren (Jicgitlus modcstits). — " The only history of this bird," says Mr. Gould, 

 " that we have been able to collect was that written on the label attached to it by the Baron de 

 Feldegg, of Frankfort, which is as follows : — ' I shot this bird, which on dissection proved to be a 

 male, in Dalmatia, in the year 1829.' We were informed, at the same time, that it was not known to 

 any German ornithologists, and, consequently, had not received a specific title. This we have 

 ventured to give, and suggest the term modestus, in allusion to its 'chaste plumage and the absence of 



