GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 
145 
branch, unless when it hangs beneath a fir-cone, pecking at 
the seeds, or when it sits still for a minute, singing its short 
and hurried song, which it always seems to utter impatiently 
and out of breath. In hopping from branch to branch this 
little species keeps its body in a horizontal position, with its 
knees bent, but when about to deliver its song it erects itself, 
and at the conclusion hurries away. “ It may occasionally be 
seen,” observes a friend, “hovering, or poising itself upon the 
wing in pursuit of its ephemeral prey, as the tropical hum¬ 
ming birds are said to flutter and attach themselves in a 
pendant posture, by clinging about the blossom of some 
flowering plant.” Although usually seen about the lower 
branches of fir-trees, these little birds do not confine them¬ 
selves to such, as we once shot a Golden-crested Wren from 
the top of a very lofty elm. The injury it received was 
slight, and the body of the little creature so light and buoy¬ 
ant, that it came to the ground alive, and though somewhat 
stunned by the fall from such a height, it presently recovered 
itself, and was put in a cage with other birds. Here it mani¬ 
fested no sign of fear, and ate readily small aphides, and such 
other insects as we could procure, and was so perfectly fear¬ 
less that it suffered its portrait to be quietly taken, and even 
ate insects from our hands ; but as these little creatures are 
so delicate that the least injury destroys them, it scarcely sur¬ 
vived its wound four and twenty hours. When taken under 
more favourable circumstances, these birds may be preserved 
alive for a year or two with care ; they should be placed 
several together in a cage, as they dislike solitude, and pine 
if left without companions. 
The little Golden-crested Wren has a pleasing song, short, 
and hurried, but clear and delicate. It is often heard as 
early as February, sometimes earlier. 
This little bird is the only one among all the British tribes 
that forms a suspension nest, with the exception of its near 
