28 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



I had no idea what it was, and took it to Mr. 

 Smith for information. He, with an old colored 

 man who served as an assistant, was arranging 

 the birds in the cases which the university had 

 provided to receive them. I handed him my 

 bird, he examined it, said he was not sure of 

 its identity, but that he would look it up, and 

 took down a book from the shelf. This book was 

 Cuvier's celebrated " Regne Animal," the volume 

 devoted to ornithology, and here he found the 

 plate of a bird that looked something like the 

 little fellow we were discussing. He told me he 

 thought it must be Cuvier's kinglet. I am 

 elaborating all this here, not so much for the 

 interest of the thing in itself, as to let some of 

 my younger friends know what was the state of 

 knowledge in general about birds at so late a 

 date as 1868 and 1869 in this country, even among 

 people who were professed students. The status 

 of Cuvier's kinglet is too well known to be dwelt 

 on here, but I quote the sum of our present knowl- 

 edge regarding the bird. 



Cuvier's Kinglet. 



Regulus ciivierii Aud. 

 Regulus cuvierii x\ud. Orn. Biog. i. 1832, p. 288, pi. 55. 



" Known only from Audubon's description and figure 

 of the original specimen, killed in June, 181 2, on the 

 banks of the Schuylkill River, in Pennsylvania." 



