WARBLERS. 
5°5 
^ Although a much more local bird than the goldcrest, the lirecrest 
Firecrest. . ® ’ 
{R. igmcapillus) is fairly common in the pine-forests of a good many 
parts of Europe, often frequenting bushes and scrub as well as the larger branches 
of trees. Pairing by the middle of April, its whereabouts is generally intimated 
by its shrill call-note, which is louder and less tremulous than that of the goldcrest. 
The lirecrest builds a similar nest to that of the goldcrest, but the eggs are of a 
warmer coloration. It is a partial migrant, crossing the North Sea in autumn, 
but only in very small numbers. Mr. Seebohm writes that these birds “ twist 
YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER, FIRECREST, AND GOLDCREST (J nat. sizej. 
in and out among the slender twigs, sometimes with head down and sometimes 
with feet up; but by far the most curious part of the performance is when they 
come to the end of the twig and examine the under surface of the leaves at its 
extremity. They have nothing to stand upon ; so they flutter more like bees than 
birds from leaf to leaf, their little wings beating as hard as they can go. The male 
has the forehead buff, the crest bright orange, bordered with black on either 
side; two other black stripes pass through the eye and from the base of the 
bill downwards; the upper-parts are olive-green varied with gold on the sides of 
the neck, and the under-parts dull huffish white. 
The rubycrest ( R. calendula ) is a well-known bird in the 
United States, returning from the far north, in which it breeds, in 
Rubycrest. 
