142 
SYLVIAD.E. 
INSESSORES. 
DENTIROSTRES. SYLVIA D.E. 
PLATE LXXIII. 
GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 
Sylvia auricapilla. 
The elegant and lively little bird, whicli forms the subject 
of the present plate, is one of the smallest of European birds ; 
but although of such diminutive size, this little species usually 
braves the cold of winter in this country with impunity, and 
apparently with indifference. In the coldest weather, in 
winters of ordinary temperature, they may frequently be seen 
on the sunny side of a fir-tree, busily employed in searching 
among the branches for the larvee of insects secreted in the 
crevices of their bark; and so earnest are they in the search 
that they will suffer themselves to be approached, and appear 
to take very little notice of being observed. They frequently 
even sing at this season. On the 16th of February, 1843, 
the coldest day of that spring, we heard a little individual, 
of this species, singing loudly and merrily in an evergreen 
shrub, as if in perfect enjoyment. The weather was so severe 
at the time, that the waters of a neighbouring pond were thickly 
covered with ice, and many boys were exercising themselves in 
sliding upon it, and the whole country resisted the impression of 
footsteps. Although thus capable of enduring the ordinary 
cold of our climate, these little creatures suffer when a winter 
of unusual rigour and long duration occurs : at such times 
they have been found dead, in holes in banks, or hollow trees. 
