REGULUS. PASSERES. REGULUS. 193 
known its nest to contain fledged young as early as in the 
third week of April. 
The male generally commences his song of invitation about 
the middle of February ; this consists of two or three stridu- Song. 
lous, though not unpleasant notes, frequently repeated, and 
ending rather abruptly. The common call-note of the species 
is a very weak cry, similar to that of the creeper (Certhia fami- Nest, &. 
liaris).—The nest is of an elegant spherical structure, formed 
of moss and lichens, lined with a quantity of feathers, and is 
usually suspended from the under part of a thickly-clothed 
fir-branch ; and not unfrequently, in failure of such trees, 
from the small branch of an oak. The eggs vary from seven 
to ten, are of a pale wood-brown colour, and weigh from nine 
to ten grains each. In attending to the economy of this 
handsome little bird, the following circumstances have passed 
under my observation. 
On the 24th and 25th of October 1822, after a very se- 
vere gale, with thick fog, from the north-east (but veering, 
towards its conclusion, to the east and south of east) thou- 
sands of these birds were seen to arrive upon the sea-shore 
and sand-banks of the Northumbrian coast; many of them 
so fatigued by the length of their flight, or perhaps by the 
unfavourable shift of wind, as to be unable to rise again from 
the ground, and great numbers were in consequence caught 
or destroyed. This flight must have been immense in quan- 
tity, as its extent was traced through the whole length of the 
coasts of Northumberland and Durham.. There appears 
little doubt of this having been a migration from the more 
northern provinces of Europe (probably furnished by the 
pine-forests of Norway, Sweden, &c.), from the circumstance 
of its arrival being simultaneous with that of large flights of 
the woodcock, fieldfare, and redwing. Although I had ne- 
ver before witnessed the actual arrival of the gold-crested re- © 
gulus, I had long felt convinced, from the great and sudden 
increase of the species during the autumnal and hyemal 
months, that our indigenous birds must be augmented by a 
WN 
