T h e term Regulus proposed for the little Gold Crest
by our eountryman Ray, lias recently been adopted by
several Naturalists both on the Continent and in England
with generic distinction, and M. Temminck, in the Third
Part or Supplement to the Land Birds of his Manual, though
not in the Manual itself, has fallen into the views of modern
authorities by also admitting and recording this genus, of
which six species are now known, three belonging to North
America, and three others to Europe.
These little birds, two species of which are found in this
country, exhibit many of the habits of the smaller Warblers
already described, and also many of the actions of the various
species of the genus Parus, or Tits, which will be arranged here
immediately after them. The little Golden Crested Regulus,
or Kinglet, the subject of the present notice, has a soft and
pleasing song, somewhat like that of the common Wren.
Pennant says he has observed this bird suspended in the air
for a considerable time over a bush in flower, whilst it sang
very melodiously ; but as its voice is not strong, it is necessary
to be advantageously placed to hear it in perfection.
The call-note of this little bird is like that of the common
Creeper. This species is most frequently to be observed in
fir plantations, where these diminutive creatures, one of the
smallest among our indigenous birds, may be seen, all life
and activity, hopping from branch to branch, and clinging to
them in various positions, sometimes with their backs downwards,
busily engaged seeking various small-winged insects,
or their hidden larva, as food, occasionally eating also a few
seeds or small berries. They remain in this country all the
year through ; and are even observed to be more numerous
in winter than in summer, many arriving here late in autumn
from colder northern regions. Notwithstanding their diminutive
size, as well as delicate structure, and without any
apparent power of endurance, these birds brave the severity
of our rigorous winters, and are among the earliest breeders
in spring, the invitation songs of the males being frequently
heard by the end of February. The nest is placed under a
branch of a fir, and generally towards the end of the bough,
being supported by two or three of the laterally diverging
and pendant twigs, which are interwoven with the moss of
which the outside of the nest is principally composed. The
nest thus sheltered by the fir-branch above it, as shewn in the
vignette at the end, is frequently lined with feathers; and, both
for security and architecture, is one of the prettiest examples
to be found among our indigenous nest-makers. So confident
and bold, also, is the female when sitting on her nest, as to
allow very close observation without flying off. She lays
from six to ten eggs, of a pale reddish white, six lines long
and five lines in diameter. Colonel Montagu, who timed the
visits of a female to her nest of eight young ones which he
kept in liis room, found that she came once in each minute
and a half or two minutes, or, upon an average, thirty-six
times in an hour; and this continued full sixteen hours in a
day. The male would not venture into the room yet the
female would feed her young while the nest was held in the
hand. Mr. Selby says, in reference to the early breeding of
this species, that he has known the young birds to be fully
fledged as early as the third week of April.
The Gold Crest appears to be distributed generally over
the whole of the south of England and in Wales, and is
mentioned by Mr. Thompson, and others, as common and
indigenous to Ireland. In the counties north of London it is
also plentiful; and on the eastern coast, at the end of autumn,
this species occasionally arrives in flocks. Mr. Williamson of
Scarborough, has observed this on the coast of Yorkshire ;
and Mr. Selby has recorded th a t,c< on the 24th and 25th of
October 1822, after a very severe gale, with thick fog from
the north-east, but veering towards its conclusion to the east