YOUTH 29 



American Ornithologists Union " Check-list " of North American 

 Birds. p. 333, Hypothetical List. Second and Revised 

 Edition, New York, 1895. 



Only one specimen of Cuvier's kinglet has ever 

 been taken, so far as naturalists are aware, and 

 this was obtained by Audubon on the banks of 

 the Schuylkill in June, 181 2. 



I may say that Mr. Smith's knowledge of large 

 birds, and especially of game-birds, — ducks, snipe, 

 and birds of prey, — was accurate and adequate ; 

 but when it came to the smaller insectivorous 

 song-birds, it is evident, from what I have just 

 recounted, that his knowledge was at that time 

 elementary. 



I know now that the little bird was the golden- 

 crowned kinglet, one of the most abundant mi- 

 grants, and a frequent winter resident in all the 

 country in the vicinity of New York and south- 

 ward throughout eastern North America, going 

 even as far south as Central America in that 

 season. 



From this period, the study of insects and 

 birds divided my interest. I acquired a very fair 

 knowledge of the common butterflies and beetles 

 of the region about Ithaca. Having Harris's 

 " Insects Injurious to Vegetation " as a text-book, 

 I was able to identify the commoner insects that 

 came in my way. While much interested in 

 birds, it had not even occurred to me that their 



