Cassell's book of birds; vol. 2

by Alfred Edmund Brehm

The GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN (Regulus cristatus, flavicapillus, or auricapillus) is yellowish green on the mantle, and light grey beneath; the throat is whitish grey; the crown of the head is saffron yellow, its sides golden yellow, decorated with a black stripe; the wings are enlivened by two light-coloured bands. In the plumage of the female all the tints are duller, and the yellow on the head paler than in her mate. The young are entirely without the bright colouring on the head. This species is three inches and two-thirds long, and five inches and five-sixths broad. The wing measures one inch and five-sixths, and the tail an inch and a half. The Golden-crested Wren is the only member of this family found in Scandinavia, and it also breeds as far south in Europe as Greece, but is seldom seen in Spain. Notwithstanding the apparent delicacy of these birds, they are capable of sustaining an unusual degree of cold, and great numbers pass the entire winter in the pine forests of Sweden. In England and Ireland they also remain throughout the whole year, but we are told that those living in the Orkneys wander as far as the Shetland Isles when the cold sets in. A most extraordinary circumstance that took place in 1823 is related in the Memoranda of the Wernerian Society, namely, the total disappearance of the whole race of these birds, natives as well as strangers, throughout Scotland and the north of England. This happened towards the end of January, a few days previous to the continued snowstorm that was felt so severely in the northern counties of England and the eastern parts of Scotland. The range and route of this migration are unascertainable, but it was most probably a distant one, from the fact of not a pair having returned to breed or pass the succeeding summer in the situations they had been known always to frequent; nor was one of this species to be seen till the following October, about the usual time for our receiving an annual accession of strangers to our indigenous birds. Like their congeners, these tiny, delicate Wrens principally frequent fir and pine forests, about the branches of which they scramble with wonderful agility, hanging head downwards from the twigs, or darting like meteors from branch to branch, in a restless and incessant search for the insects upon which they subsist. Their voice is gentle and twittering, and their song occasionally uttered as they hover in the air over a bush or shrub. During the period of incubation, which frequently commences as early as February, the males endeavour to attract the attention of their future partners by spreading the beautiful crest upon their heads, and indulging in a variety of animated and excited movements, as they hop or fly about the spot where the desired mate is perching. The nest is spherical, usually placed at the extremity of a branch, beautifully constructed of moss or lichen, and in most instances snugly lined with feathers, cotton wool, or down from plants. The eggs, from six to ten in number, have a pale reddish white or yellowish white shell, finely spotted with red, and are scarcely larger than peas, not exceeding six lines in length, and five in diameter. So voracious are the young, that Colonel Montague observed the mother come thirty-six times in an hour with morsels for her craving family, and continue her labours without intermission for sixteen hours in the day. Mr. Selby tells us that he has seen fully-fledged young by the end of April.

THE DALMATIAN WREN.

The DALMATIAN WREN (Regulus modestus).—"The only history of this bird," says Mr. Gould, "that we have been able to collect was that written on the label attached to it by the Baron de Feldegg, of Frankfort, which is as follows:—'I shot this bird, which on dissection proved to be a male, in Dalmatia, in the year 1829.' We were informed, at the same time, that it was not known to any German ornithologists, and, consequently, had not received a specific title. This we have ventured to give, and suggest the term modestus, in allusion to its chaste plumage and the absence of the crest, which forms so conspicuous a feature in other species of this genus. Its most conspicuous characters are the three yellow stripes which ornament the head; the brighter and most highly coloured of these marks, contrary to what obtains in any other Reguli, being that over each eye, while the coronal stripe is palest, and consists of feathers similar in length to those which cover the rest of the head. With the exception of the stripes on the head, the whole of the upper surface is delicate olive green, becoming abruptly paler on the rump; the quills and tail are brown, edged with pale yellow, which is more conspicuous on the secondaries; two transverse bands of the same colour cross the shoulders. The whole of the under surface is pale greenish white; bill and tarsi brown."

THE FIRE-CRESTED WREN.

The FIRE-CRESTED WREN (Regulus ignicapillus, or Regulus pyrocephalus) is readily distinguished from the bird above described by a black stripe that passes across and a white stripe that passes over the eyes. The crown of the head is fiery red, and bright-flame yellow at its sides, surrounded by a black line, which is broader than that on the Golden-crested Wren. The two species are almost alike in size. The Fire-crested Wren is met with in France, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Spain, and has been seen, although very rarely, in England. In most of the above-mentioned countries it only appears during its wanderings, but is known to breed in Greece. Such of these birds as inhabit Europe closely resemble the species above described in their movements and habits.

According to Jerdon, "the Himalayan Fire Crest is very like the Regulus ignicapillus of Europe, but is larger, and has the flame-coloured crest more developed. The Himalayan Fire-crested Wren has only been found in the North-western Himalayas, and even there, apparently, it is not very common."

THE SATRAP WREN.

The SATRAP-CROWNED WREN (Regulus satrapa), a North American species nearly resembling its European congeners, is brownish grey upon the back, and greyish white upon the under side; the breast is shaded with brownish yellow, the eyes are encircled by a greyish white ring, and the head decorated on each side with a black band, edged with bright yellow, and with a broad fiery red stripe across the crown; the quills and feathers of the wing-covers are dusky, the former edged and the latter tipped with greenish yellow; the eye is brown, the beak black, and the feet brownish yellow. The bird is four inches long and seven broad.

Of the American Fire-crested Wren, or Fiery-crowned Knight, Nuttall writes as follows:—"The Regulus tricolor (or Regulus satrapa) appears associated only in pairs, which are seen on their southern route, in this part of Massachusetts, a few days in October, and about the middle of the month, or a little earlier or later according to the setting in of the season, as they appear to fly before the desolating storms of the northern regions, whither they retire about May to breed. Some of these birds remain in Pennsylvania until December or January; proceeding, probably, but little further south during the winter. They are not known to reside in any part of New England, but retire to the same remote and desolate limits of the farther north with an allied species, of which they have most of the habits. They are actively engaged during their transient visits to the south in gleaning up insects and their lurking larvæ, for which they perambulate the branches of trees of various kinds, frequenting gardens and orchards, and skipping and vaulting from the twigs, sometimes head downwards, like the Chicadee, with whom they often keep company, making only now and then a feeble chirp. They appear at this time to search chiefly after spiders and dormant concealed coleopterous or other insects; they are also said to feed on small berries and some kinds of seeds, which they break open by pecking with the bill in the manner of the Titmouse. They likewise frequent the sheltered cedar and pine woods, in which they probably take up their roost at night. Early in April they are seen on their return to the north in Pennsylvania. At this time they dart among the blossoms of the maple and elm, in company with others of their race, and appear more volatile and actively engaged in seizing small flies on the wing, and collecting minute lurking caterpillars from the opening leaves. On the 21st of May, 1835, I observed this species feeding its full-fledged young in a tall pine tree on the banks of the Columbia river."

"If we compare the American Golden-crest Wren with the European, we find that they agree in general appearance, in the proportional length of the quills and in the form of the tail, as well as in that of the bill and legs. Their differences are the following:—