HOME BIRDS 87 



It Is not only Golden-crown's endurance which 

 makes him remarkable, but also the size of his 

 family. Although the smallest of our Song or 

 Perching Birds, he lays, as a rule, a larger number 

 of eggs than any other; as many as ten are com- 

 monly found In the great purse of green moss which 

 this active little bird builds for a nest In an ever- 

 green tree sometimes as high as sixty feet above the 

 ground. 



Golden-crown comes to us from the north late in 

 September. A few birds remain during the winter, 

 traveling in small companies which are often asso- 

 ciated with Chickadees. They are restless, active 

 little explorers of twig and bud, about which they 

 flutter in their never-ending search for insects' eggs 

 and larvas. 



Their high, thin *'ti-tl-tl" may be heard only by 

 attentive ears. Hoffman writes: "In March and 

 April the males continue the lisping note, put more 

 and more power into it, and then by a descending 

 trill fall, as it were, from the height to which they 

 have scaled — this is the song of the Golden-crowned 

 Kinglet." 



Both sexes w^ear a crown. That of the male is 

 flaming orange bordered by yellow and black. That 

 of the female — shall we call her Queenlet? — Is only 

 yellow with a black border. 



