REGULUS IGNICAPILLUS.
Fire-crested Wren.

Sylvia ignicapilla, Brehm.
Regulus ingnicapillus, Cuy.
——— mystaceus, Vieill.

——— pyrocephalus, Brehm, Handb, der Naturg, Vig, Deutsch., 183] es

eee

I know of no birds which have caused more confusion among ordinary observers than the two species of the
genus Regulus inhabiting the British Islands, the Golden- and the Fire-crested Wrens. I have heard it stated
by some persons that there is no difference between them, and by others that the Firecrest js constantly to be
seen in our woods. Now both these assertions are incorrect, as is well known to every professed ornithologist.
In the first place, no two birds of the same genus can well be more different; and in the next, the Firecrest
is so rare that it is seldom met with in this country. If it be necessary to point out the distinguishing
characters of the two birds, I may say that the Firecrest is larger than the Goldencrest, has the centre
of the crown orange-red, the forehead crossed by a band of buff, terminating in a distinct stripe of white,
which surmounts the eye and extends far towards the occiput, while the lores and the ear-coverts are
blackish brown, and the sides of: the neck and upper surface sulphur-green,—none of which features are
found in the common species.

Whatever it may be in England, the Regulus ignicapillus appears to be a constant migrant in the northern
parts of the Kuropean continent, passing to and fro from north to south, and wee versa, like so many other
sylvan birds. The merit of first introducing this species to notice as pertaining to our fauna is due to the
Rey. Leonard Jenyns, who obtained a specimen in bis own garden at Swaffham-Bulbeck, near Cambridge, in
the month of August 1832. Since that time other examples have been occasionally seen and captured—
two in Norfolk, one or two in the neighbourhood of Penzance, and some four or five in Shropshire ;
specimens killed in that county are contained in the fine collections of Viscount Hill at Hawkstone, and
T. C. Eyton, usq., at Wellington. Still, with these instances of its capture, it must be regarded as a very rare
bird, and one which cannot be sought for, with the certainty of its being found, in any part of the British
Islands. To say that it is often mistaken for the common species, pays but an ill compliment to the pene-
tration of the observer; for, besides the differences in colour pointed out above, the actions of the two birds
among the trees are equally diverse: one is shy and wary, the other tame and familiar: I can affirm this the
more positively, having seen and shot the bird in Malta; this difference in their disposition is also confirmed
by the remarks of Mr. J. D. Hoy on the bird as observed by him im Belgium.

6 I fully expected,” says this gentleman, “to have found it in some very extensive tracts of forest which I
visited last summer, situated between the Meuse and the Rhine; but I could neither meet with this species,
nor our common Goldcrest. I have noticed the appearance of the Firecrest in the beginning of
September, at first only single birds or in pairs ; the end of September and the first foninig hit in October
seem to be the time when they pass over in the greatest numbers. I never recollect having a more
than five or six individuals together, whereas with the common species you often find them in parties of a
By the early part of November you will rarely find the Firecrest, while the common

dozen or more. :
I have never heard the song of the Firecrest, but have no

species is abundant through the winter. inne So
doubt of its differing from the other; the call-note I can readily distinguish among a post of the common 3
it is shorter, not so shrill, and pitched in so different a key, that to one well versed a the language of
I think they prefer low brushwood and young plantations of fir, iw the loftier
They associate with the Tits like the other

I have no doubt the Firecrest would be

birds, it is easily discovered.
trees ; but yet I have often found them in the latter situations.
kind; but I have found them sometimes more restless and shy. ee : ee.
( I if dilig: , soucht for aS -eastern coast, by those well acquainted with its
found early in autumn, if diligently sought for, on our south-easte ast, bj ; | y eee
d % i “~@ ~ oa : i : s y vards of i i .
notes, without which knowledge it would be difficult to find it: when within a few yarc ;
S, i ‘
i istineul ‘ the white mark above the eyes.”
readily distinguished by the white mark a ae
Pe: i is species, | do not hesitate to give a somewhat free translation of the
As so little is known respecting this species, I do : nmr.
' a ee) AS Fae siete
i it j illy’ Jrni r] > la Savoie, vol. 1. p. 404, wc. :
passages referring to it in M. Bailly’s ‘Ornithologie de la SayOl ae I ae ance
r ee is particularly common in Savoy during the autumn and winter; it is then that
“The Regulus ignicapillus is particularly co g' hon th
ee abund er than w o .
numbers arrive from Switzerland, where the species is more abundant in summer the . a ) ‘
. f . he in tr ° ight to a dozen
1 les, male and female, or in threes and fours at a time, and frequently in troops of from | :
Im couples, male < ale, ; : ; species; like the latter
: ; assoc ; ‘ommon species ; like the la
individuals. When migrating, these birds frequently associate with the cor | ; ‘

‘chards, examine trees, bushes, and tufts of
they approach dwelling-houses, frequent gardens, parks, and orchards, examine i k
C Cc g