GOLD CRESTED WREN. 205 
means the faeces are never left on the nest, but are instantly carried 
away by the parent bird. 
This minute species braves the severest winters of our climate, being- 
equally found in all parts during- that rigorous season, and is by no 
means so scarce as it is supposed to be, but, from its diminutive size, 
it is seldom noticed. It would in all probability be much more plen- 
tiful, but from some cause which we have not been able to discover, 
the female is frequently destroyed at the time of its incubation, and 
the nest with the eggs left to decay. 
Bechstein informs us that these beautiful birds are spread over the 
whole of Europe and Asia, its favorite haunts being the extensive 
pine and fir forests of the north of Europe, from whence they migrate 
towards the south on the approach of winter. In the month of 
October, they are observed in Germany, passing towards the south, and 
returning again in the month of March towards the north. In that 
country, however, flocks of them reside during the whole year, uniting 
together as the year advances, and searching out those spots where 
their food, which consists of small insects, is most abundant. 
He adds, that they are easily taken by cautiously approaching 
the branch on which they generally perch themselves, and touching 
them softly with a lime twig, attached to a stick of sufficient length to 
reach them, the gentle creatures become unresisting prisoners. When 
taken they are easily tamed, and will, in a very short time, take their 
food from the hand ; but such is their extreme delicacy, that many die 
before one can be reared : once accustomed to confinement, they have 
been known to live a considerable time. 
A pair of these birds, in the collection of Mr. Luscome, of Kings- 
bridge, were of a cream colour, with the usual yellow crown, by which 
the sexes are distinguished ; the song, which is short, weak, and with 
little variety, is repeated at short intervals throughout the day in spring, 
and until it has young. 
* On the 24th and 25th of October, 1822,” says Selby, “after a 
very severe gale, with thick fog from the north-east, (but veering, 
towards its conclusion, to the east and south of east,) thousands of these 
birds were seen to arrive upon the sea-shore and sand-banks of the 
Northumbrian coast ; many of them so fatigued by the length of their 
flight, or perhaps by the unfavourable shift of wind, as to be unable to 
rise again from the ground, and great numbers were in consequence 
caught or destroyed. This flight must have been immense in quantity, 
as its extent was traced through the whole length of the coasts of 
Northumberland and Durham. There appears little doubt of this 
