THE GOLDEN-CRESTED REGULUS 45 

 large nest the architect has the distinction of 

 being one of the smallest British birds ; but 

 what a mind (subconscious) invests this 

 diminutive body ! Human intelligence with 

 all the appliances in the world could not 

 fashion a like structure and endow it with the 

 same elasticity and compactness. 



Excluding the Golden Oriole (Oriolus gal- 

 bula), an occasional visitor, the Golden- 

 crested Regulus (miscalled wren) is the only 

 British bird that builds a pendent nest, and 

 a very beautiful nest it is when seen suspended 

 beneath the bough of a fir-tree. 



Hanging nests call for particular notice 

 because they are built on a different system, 

 the reverse, in fact, to an ordinary nest. That 

 is to say, a bird that builds in the fork of a 

 tree begins her work by placing material in 

 the hollow and works upwards, from a founda- 

 tion ; but the pensile nest must necessarily 

 be commenced from above and so continued 

 downwards ; also the lappings must be very 

 firmly bound and secured to the overhead 

 supports, as from these depend the whole 

 fabric, plus the weight of the bird and her 

 clutch. 



The gold-crest's nest, however, is com- 

 paratively a simple structure to some of the 

 hanging nests of foreign species, which should 



