99 



EEDSTAET. 



Adult male. Upper parts, throat and breast shining black, basal half of the 

 wing feathers orange, end half and wing coverts black; basal two-thirds of all but 

 the middle tail feathers orange, end third and middle feathers black; sides of the 

 breast and flanks deep orange; belly white. 



Adult female and Immature. Orange of the male replaced by dull yellow; head 

 grayish; back ashy brown. 



L., 5.40; W., 2.55; T., 2.25. 



Nest, in the crotch of a small tree. Eggs, four or five, grayish white, spotted and 

 blotched chiefly at the larger end with various shades of brown. 



KINGLETS AND GNATCATCHERS. 



Kinglets. These are, next to the Humming bird, the smallest birds we have, their 

 want of size, however, being amply compensated for by their constant activity in pur- 

 suit of their insect food, and the number of them that pass through the Province dur- 

 ing their migrations. There are two species of them, the Euby Crowned Kinglet and 

 the Golden 'Crowned Kinglet, the latter being much more abundant. The names given 

 them are sufficiently descriptive of the color of their crests to enable them to be 

 easily identified when examined ; in other respects they are almost indistinguishable. 

 The Euby Crown has a wonderfully loud voice for such a minute creature, and is a 

 good singer. The Golden Crown has no song at all. Early in April myriads of 

 these little birds pass over the country working their way northward, and may be 

 seen in our orchards and shrubberies carefully searching every part of the trees and 

 bushes for the insects and their eggs that are hidden from all eyes less keen than 

 theirs, and cutting short the career of a vast number of insects before they have 

 developed sufficiently to do mischief. Neither of them has as yet been positively 

 ascertained to breed in the southern part of Ontario, but no doubt they do so in the 

 evergreen woods to the north of us. About the end of September they return, their 

 numbers increased by the broods of the year ; they are not now in any hurry, but just 

 loiter along toward the south, until the middle of November, when the last of the 

 migrating host disappears. All the Euby Crowns leave us, but there are always a 

 goodly number of Golden Crowns which remain in our sheltered evergreen woods 

 all through the winter. How such tiny creatures can resist the extreme cold of that 

 season is a mystery; but they do it, and can even then find enough insects and their 

 eggs (for they eat nothing else) to keep them in good condition. 



They are expert in capturing small moths on the wing and no doubt destroy a 

 great many of them, but the greatest service they render us is in destroying the eggs 

 of the aphides, scale insects and other insects which are too small to attract the atten- 

 tion of larger birds. 



Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. In Southwestern Ontario this little bird is a regular 

 though never a common summer resident. While it does not occur in sufficient num- 

 bers to be an important economic factor, yet it assists the warblers in keeping in 

 check the foliage devouring insects whicli swarm the trees in summer. 



