They devour the acorns in the Forest very greedily in the autumn, and
I have seen one with crop so full that on my approach it could only
with difficulty fly away to a short distance. I found it near a small
pond where, apparently, it had been drinking, and the acorns had
expanded to an inconvenient extent.
The golden-crested wren was a common bird here before the severe
winter of 1916-1917, but it has since become comparatively rare; it is
the smallest of British birds, and could often be seen in the hedges
exploring every twig and crevice for insects, and it was a great
pleasure to watch the nimble movements of such a sweet little fairy.
Its first cousin, the fire-crest, which is almost its exact
counterpart, except for the flame-coloured crest, is much rarer; and I
only remember seeing one specimen, to which with great circumspection
I managed to approach quite closely, in the wood near my house.
One morning, at Aldington, the gardener came in to say there was a
hawk in the greenhouse near the rickyard; we found a pane of glass
broken, where it had unintentionally entered in pursuit of a sparrow;
the hawk was uninjured, and flew away quite unconcernedly on the
opening of the door. Another hawk, here in Burley, was found dead near
my drawing-room bow-window. It had dashed itself against a pane of
thick plate-glass while in pursuit of a starling, I think; seeing the
light through the bow, it had not recognized the glass, and must have
collided with it in the act of swooping.
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