460 



2 



Adult Female (shot with the above). Similar to the above, except that the crest is bright lemon-yellow, 

 and the back is a shade paler in tinge. 



Adult Male in autumn (Turkey) . Differs from the summer-plumaged specimen merely in having the under- 

 parts, particularly the breast and flanks, washed with pale buffy brown ; but the colour of the crest and 

 upper parts is almost brighter than in spring. 



Young. I have no specimen in immature plumage ; but Naumann describes the young bird just fledged as 

 lacking the rich yellow and black markings on the crown, this being greenish grey ; but on the sides of 

 the head it has the blackish and white stripes, so characteristic of this species, like the adult bird, but 

 duller ; the remaining portions of the body paler and duller than in the adult bird. 



The Fire-crested Wren has a much more restricted range than its congener the Golden-crested 

 Wren, being found in Central and Southern Europe and Northern Africa. 



In Great Britain it is extremely rare, and is in fact in but few localities so common as the 

 Golden-crested Wren. Professor Newton, in the new edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' writes 

 that " it was first made known as occurring in this country by Mr. Leonard Jenyns, who obtained 

 an example killed by a cat in his own garden at Swaffham-Bulbeck, near Cambridge, in August 

 1832 ; and the specimen, being a young of the year, was exhibited soon after at a meeting of the 

 Zoological Society (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1832, p. 139). It is now in the Museum of the University 

 of Cambridge. Early in October 1830, an example, now in the collection of Mr. John Hancock, 

 was caught on the rigging of a ship five miles off the coast of Norfolk, as recorded by his brother 

 (Mag. Zool. and Bot. i. p. 491). Since that time more than thirty other well-authenticated 

 occurrences of the species in this country have been observed. Nearly half the specimens 

 obtained have been met with in Cornwall, chiefly in Lariggan Valley, as stated by Mr. Rodd. 

 One example having been taken in Devonshire, one in the Isle of Wight, twelve have come to 

 the notice of observers in Sussex ; one is said to have been taken in Kent, one in Norfolk, one in 

 Yorkshire, and one in East Lothian. This last rests on the authority of Dr. Turnbull, and, 

 except the original Cambridgeshire specimen, is the only one said to have been obtained in 

 summer, the rest having occurred between September and April, but mostly in the depth of 

 winter." 



Mr. G. Dawson Rowley writes (Ibis, 1864, p. 223) that two were obtained at Brighton "by 

 Mr. Swaysland, in his garden, October 15, three being observed, all in company with Cole Tits 

 (Paras ater). One of the latter only was seen to enter the net; on going up, however, a 

 Regulus ignicapillus was also found ; another flew in, a few minutes after ; a third escaped. I 

 find, in my notes, the capture of a Regulus ignicapillus on the Dyke-road, near Brighton, 

 recorded 29th October, 1853; and Mr. Swaysland tells me of a fourth instance many years 

 before." Mr. Cecil Smith informs me that he possesses two specimens from Guernsey. The 

 only instance of its occurrence in Scotland is the one above referred to by Professor Newton 

 as having been obtained in East Lothian. The specimen referred to was shot by Dr. Turnbull 

 in Gladsmuir woods in the summer of 1848. Mr. R. Gray says that it is totally unknown in 

 Western Scotland. Mr. H. C. Miiller records it as having once occurred on the Faeroes ; but it 

 has not been met with in Norway, Sweden, or Finland. Mr. Sabanaeff informs me that it has 



