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R e g u l u s ig n ic a p il l u s (C. L. Brehm*).
THE FIRE-CRESTED WREN.
Reg ulus ignicap Ulus.
T h e F i r e -c r e s t e d W r e n was first made known as occurring
in this country by Mr. Leonard .Tenynst, who obtained
an example killed by a cat in his own garden at
Swaff ham-Bulbeck, near Cambridge, in August, 18B2; and
the specimen, being a young bird of the year, was exhibited
soon after at a meeting of the Zoological Society (Proc. Zool.
Soc. 1832, p. 139). It is now in the Museum of the University
of Cambridge. Early in October, 1836, an example,
now in the collection of Mr. John Hancock, was caught on
the rigging of a ship five miles off the coast of Norfolk as
recorded by his brother (Mag. Zool. and Bot. i. p. 491).
Since that time more than thirty other well-authenticated
occurrences of the species in this country have been recorded,
besides several more cases in which it is supposed to have
been observed. Nearly half the specimens obtained have
* “ Sylviaignicapilla, Brehm,” Temminck, Man.d’Orn. Ed. 2, i. p. 232 (1820).
t This gentleman has since taken the name of Blomefield.
been met with in Cornwall, chiefly in Lariggan Valley, as
stated by Mr. Rodd. One example has been taken in
Devonshire, one in the Isle of Wight, twelve have come
to the notice of observers in Sussex, one is said to have
been taken in Kent, one in Norfolk, one in Yorkshire,
and one in East Lothian. This last rests on the authority
of Dr. Turnbull, and, except the original Cambridgeshire
specimen, is the only one said to have been obtained in
summer—the rest having occurred between September and
April, but mostly in the depth of winter.
Although this species is perhaps nowhere so numerous
as the preceding, the general resemblance in the two birds
has possibly caused the rarer one to be occasionally overlooked
; but, on the other hand, sanguine persons have
doubtless often thought they have seen the present in examples
of the commoner species. The distinctions between
them were first pointed out by the eldest Brehm*, who
imparted his discovery of this bird to Temminck, and by
him it was described under the specific name since usually
applied to it, though Brehm himself two years later called
it Regulus pyrocephalus (Beiträge, ii. p. 130). In general
habits both birds are very much alike, though, as will
immediately appear, the Fire-crested Wren has the more
limited range, and does not seem generally to winter even in
central Europe. The nest is precisely similar to that of the
Golden-crested W ren ; but the eggs have a much warmer
tint, being of a flesh- or pale salmon-colour, sometimes
marked with small red dots. They are from seven to ten in
number and measure from ’51 to ‘47 by from ‘41 to ‘39 in.
* I t had previously been confounded by De Montbeillard and the elder Naumann,
with the common Regulus cristatus. In 1819, Vieillot (N. Diet. d’Hist.
Nat. Nouv. ed. xxix. p. 422) remarked that there seemed to him to be two races
of this bird, the second of which he called the “ roitelet huppe ä moustaches, ”
saying that he had met with it in North America, near Paris and elsewhere. In
1822 (Faun. Fran?, p. 231), he recognized this race as a species, naming it
R. mystaceus, but still kept together under that appellation the European and
American species, which, though much alike, are clearly distinct. His name for
the former yields in priority to that of ignicapillus, but it seems doubtful whether
it should not stand for the latter, since and generally called R. satrapa.
VOL. I. 3 N
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