150 
SYLVIA D.E. 
panics, either at ordinary times, or during migration, being 
seldom seen more than six or seven together, probably the 
little family of the year. It is not found so far north as 
the preceding species ; and its times of migration are observed, 
in parts on the continent Avhere it is well known, to be later 
in the spring and earlier in the autumn. 
These little birds are remarkably restless and continually 
in motion. The male and female, which are usually seen 
together, are so much attached to one another, that if one 
is shot or captured, its companion remains on the spot for 
a considerable time, uttering continually its call-note. The 
notes of this little species are said to differ in tone from those 
of the common golden-crested wren, so that by an accustomed 
ear they may be readily distinguished. 
The number of eggs in this species is from six to eight: 
they vary in size and colour, as in the former species, which 
they greatly resemble, being reddish or cream-white in the 
ground colour, minutely speckled with yellowish-grey about 
the larger end ; they are in size from six to seven lines in 
length. The nest is built of moss, wool, and a few support¬ 
ing grasses, and lined with the down of animals and small 
feathers : it is suspended from a fir-branch in the same manner 
as that of the gold-crest, and is found in similar localities. 
The Fire-crested Wren varies in length, from three and 
a half to four inches. In a specimen measured by us the 
dimensions were as follows : the beak from the forehead 
nearly four lines: the wing from the carpus to the tip two 
inches one line : the first quill-feather is short, the second 
two lines shorter than the third ; the fourth and fifth are 
a trifle longer than the third, and the longest in the wing; 
the tail, which extends about three quarters of an inch beyond 
the folded wings, is slightly forked : the tarsi measure nine 
lines. 
The chief distinguishing marks of this species are the black 
