66 
CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
THE GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 
This diminutive songster, whicli is the smallest of Euro- 
pean birdsj is, like the common wren, a permanent resident 
with us ; it is to be found chiefly in the dark pine woods 
and plantations of larch trees, spruce firs, and the like, 
where it suspends its beautiful nest to a bough, generally 
far up, and amid the long sweeping foliage, which effec- 
tually conceals it from observation. One must be a gooci 
climber to have a chance of obtaining the nest of the little 
lively gold-crest, whose motions are so quick and restless 
that one seldom obtains a good view of him in his 
sylvan home ; he has a coat of olive green, and on the 
top of his head are some flame-coloured feathers, bordered 
on each side by black ; the hen bird has more of sober gray 
in her plumage, and her crest is not so deep of colour ; she 
lays seven, eight, or nine, very tiny eggs, of a delicate flesh 
colour, in her warm thick nest, closely woven of moss, and 
lined with the silk of cocoons, down of the thistle, and other 
soft substances. The best chance of rearing the young is to 
treat them in the same way as those of the common wren. 
If the old birds can be limed on the nest, or otherwise 
caught, you will only have to supply them with food and 
they will most likely do v/elL 
Young gold-crests should not be fully fledged when they 
are taken, or they will prove very troublesome. Bechstein 
says that they are easily reared on meal-worms cut small, 
flies, ants' eggs, and wheaten bread soaked in milk ; and hf 
recommends as an easy mode of catching the old birds, i 
limed twig on a rod, as directed for the last species. They 
come, he says, in great numbers to the water- trap, and by 
their repeated cry of tzitt ! tzitt ! indicate the approach of 
sunset. He tells us, too, that although delicate birds, they 
will yet, when used to confinement, live long in that state. 
Insect food is absolutely necessary for them, and care must 
be taken not to make their food either too moist or too stiff ; 
neither must they be allowed to touch rape or camelia seed, 
as either of these would immediately kill them ; a green- 
house well warmed and ventilated, or a trellised inclosure 
with a small pine tree in the centre, is a good place for 
•hem J they look pretty in a bell-shaped cage, and this 
