FIRECREST. 151 
are said to be more shy than the Golderests, and to go 
in smaljer parties, more than six or seven, no doubt the 
family party, deing seldom seen together. ‘They are, like 
them, remarkably restless, and brisk ‘and quick in all their 
motions, one moment intently engaged in the seareh for 
inseets, the next, as if on some secret signal, ‘exeunt omnes.’ 
The male and female are said to exhibit ereat attachment 
to one another. 
They feed on the same kind of food as the other species, 
and the livelong day witnesses their ceaseless pursuit of the 
insetts which infest the places where they therefore seek and 
find them. 
The nest is built of moss, wool, and a few grasses, lined 
with fur and feathers. It is suspended from the branch of a 
fir or other tree. 
The eggs are said to be from five or six to eight or ten 
in number, and of a pale reddish yellow tint, minutely 
speckled. with yellowish grey about the larger end, but they 
vary in size and colour. 
Maile; length, not quite four inches; bill, black, broadened 
at the base; a black streak proceeds from its base through 
the eye, and below it is another; the inside of the mouth is 
orange-colour; iris, dark brown; over the eye is a greyish 
white streak, and also another under it. ‘The crest, fiery 
red; on each side of it is a black streak, forming the third; 
forehead, greyish white, tinged with red or yellowish; neck 
on the back and nape, yellowish olive green, with a tint of 
brownish ash-colour; chin, throat, and breast, greyish white, 
strongly tinged on the sides with buff; back, yelluwish olive 
green, with a tint of brown. 
The wings have the first quill feather very short, the second 
shorter than the third, the fourth and fifth nearly equal, and 
the longest; greater wing coverts, dusky, broadly bordered 
with greeaish white, and tipped with greyish white; lesser 
wing coverts, also dusky, broadly bordered with greenish 
white; primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, dusky, margined 
with yellowish greer, the last-named most widely so, except. 
towards the base, where their outer web is dusky black, 
forming a dark spot. Tail, dusky, margined with yellowish 
ereen; it is slightly forked, and extends three quarters of an 
inch beyond the closed wings. Legs and toes, yellowish 
brown, the soles yellow and rough; claws, brown. 
The female has the crest fiery orange red, but somewhes 
