The gold-crest is our smallest British bird. The ranks of 
our resident “ gold-crests,’ in the autumn, are swollen by 
immigrants from northern Europe, who seek shelter with us 
because unable to withstand the rigours of the more northern 
winter. In the matter of size the gold- and fire-crested wrens 
agree, measuring but a trifle more than three and a half 
inches from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail! By the 
way, the shape of the beak should be carefully noted. It is 
that of a typical warbler. 
It may be urged that this description of the warblers 
might well have been omitted from these pages, since, in 
regard to “ Flight,’ nothing whatever can be said, save that 
they ‘‘fly.” There would, indeed, be some justification for 
such criticism, but it is to be remembered that this volume 
is written, not for the expert, but for the novice, who, because 
he needs a few concrete examples of the hopelessness of 
expecting to identify every bird he may encounter by its 
flight, and of the methods he must occasionally adopt, when 
seeking to name a bird which will not come out into the 
open. His course of training, and discovery, will be much 
shortened by the realization that birds by no means always 
reveal their presence by taking long flights. 
What is true of the warblers, in this regard, is true also of 
our numerous species of tit-mice. We do not distinguish be- 
tween them in the field by their flight, but by their coloration. 
220 
