130 



GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 



cedar, juniper, &c, and in the fall is generally found in com- 

 pany with the two species of titmouse, brown creeper, and 

 small spotted woodpecker. It is an active, unsuspicious, and 

 diligent little creature, climbing and hanging, occasionally, 

 among the branches, and sometimes even on the body of the 

 tree, in search of the larvae of insects attached to the leaves 

 and stems, and various kinds of small flies, which it frequently 

 seizes on wing. As it retires still farther north to breed, it is 

 seldom seen in Pennsylvania from May to October, but is 

 then numerous in orchards, feeding among the leaves of the 

 apple trees, which, at that season, are infested with vast num- 

 bers of small black-winged insects. Its chirp is feeble, not 

 much louder than that of a mouse; though, where it breeds, 

 the male is said to have a variety of sprightly notes. It builds 

 its nest frequently on the branches of an evergreen, covers 

 it entirely round, leaving a small hole on one side for entrance, 

 forming it outwardly of moss and lichens, and lining it 

 warmly with down. The female lays six or eight eggs, pure 

 white, with a few minute specks of dull red. Dr Latham, on 

 whose authority this is given, observes, " It seems to frequent 

 the oak trees in preference to all others. I have more than 

 once seen a brood of these in a large oak, in the middle of a 

 lawn, the whole little family of which, as soon as able, were 

 in perpetual motion, and gave great pleasure to many who 

 viewed them. The nest of one of these has also been made in 

 a garden on a fir tree ; it was composed of moss, the opening 

 on one side, in shape roundish ; it was lined with a downy 

 substance, fixed with small filaments. It is said to sing very 

 melodiously, very like the common wren, but weaker." In 

 Pennsylvania, they continue with us from October to Decem- 

 ber, and sometimes to January. 



The golden-crested wren is four inches long, and six inches 



and a half in extent ; back, a fine yellow olive ; hind head and 



sides of the neck, inclining to ash ; a line of white passes round 



the frontlet, extending over and beyond the eye on each side ; 



* Synopsis, ii. 509. 



