COMMON GOLD-CREST. 



1S9 



whitish : the hind part of the head, neck, and 

 back, greenish : quills dusky, edged with green j 

 at the base of the secondaries is a black bar, above 

 which the coverts are tipped with white, forming 

 a narrow bar of that colour ; and above that the 

 lesser coverts are black, tipped with white, re- 

 sembling two obscure bars : the plumage beneath 

 brownish white; the belly lightest, and tinged 

 with yellow : the tail slightly forked ; its feathers 

 dusky, edged with yellowish green : the female 

 had the head less crested, and the crown bright 

 ■ yellow instead of orange: the young do not attain 

 the crest till autumn. There is a beautiful white 

 variety of this species in the British Museum, 

 which was captured in Devonshire. 



Montagu has given a very pleasing account of 

 the manners of this species in the introduction to 

 his Ornithological Dictionary, of which the fol- 

 lowing is an abridgement. A nest containing ten 

 young birds was placed in a small basket near the 

 window of Colonel Montagu's study, for the pur- 

 pose of enticing the old birds, who soon made 

 their appearance, and became very familiar ; the 

 female attending upon the young, even when the 

 nest was placed far in the room, or held in the 

 hand: the male constantly accompanied the fe- 

 male as far as the window-frame, but would not 

 venture within the room ; he never uttered any 

 note except the female was. out of sight, and then 

 only a slight chirp : the female repeated her visits 

 every two or three minutes^ for full sixteen hours 

 daily, each time loaded with food, which the 



