NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 159 



nine in number, are pale blue, with occasionally a few small spots of 

 light red. 



Cumberland, June. 



Presented by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson. 



No. 63. GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. (Eegulus cristatus.) 



This resident species is the smallest of our British birds, and gene- 

 rally distributed throughout the islands wherever suitable plantations 

 of larch and fir are to be found. During the periods of migration, 

 immense flocks sometimes arrive on the east coast and spread across 

 Great Britain to Ireland. The food consists of insects, for which the 

 bird often searches in company with flocks of Tits and Creepers. The 

 beautifully constructed nest of moss and lichens, felted together with 

 wool and spiders' webs and lined with feathers, is generally placed 

 beneath the extremity of a branch of some evergreen tree, such as a fir, 

 yew, or cedar. The eggs vary from five to ten in number, and are pale 

 buff, minutely freckled with yellowish-brown. 



1. Nest and eggs in a Scotch fir-tree. Sufiblk, May. 

 Presented by T. Harcourt-Powell, Esq. 



3. Parent birds with nest and eggs in a spruce fir-tree. 



Norfolk, May. 



Presented by Lord Walsingham. 



No. 64. CRESTED TITMOUSE. (Parus cristatus.) 



Though common on the Continent, the Crested Titmouse is ex- 

 tremely local in Great Britain, and only met with as a resident in 

 the old pine-forests of Strathspey, in the north-east of Scotland. Like 

 its allies, it feeds on insects and their larvae, as well as on seeds and 

 berries. The nest, composed of moss, deer's hair, and wool, is usually 

 placed in a hole bored in the decayed stump of a tree, a few feet above 

 the ground. The eggs, from five to eight in number, are white, boldly 

 spotted or zoned with light red. Two broods are frequently produced 

 in a season. 



Morayshire, May. 



Presented by Colonel L. H. Irby. 



No. 65. COMMON or GREY PARTRIDGE. 



(Perdix perdix.) 



This species is widely distributed throughout Great Britain, being 

 especially abundant in the south-eastern counties of England. The 



