698 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Genus REGULUS Cuvier. 



Regulus Cuvier, Le^. d' Anat. Conip. , i, 1799-1800, tab. ii. ( Type, MoiaciUa regulus 



Linnteus. ) 

 Corihylioa Cabanis, Jonrii. fi'ir Orn., i, Jan., 1853, 83. (Type, MotadUa calendula 



Linnteiis.) 



Very small Sylviidse (wing less than 60 mm.) with slender, booted 

 tarsi, tail much shorter than wing, emarginate, the adult males with a 

 patch of bright yellow, orange or scarlet on crown. 



Bill small and slender, the exposed culmen much shorter than mid- 

 dle toe without claw, depressed at base, where its width considerably 

 exceeds its depth; culmen straight to near tip, where obviously 

 decurved, the maxillary tomium distinctly notched subterminally. 

 Nostril longitudinal, overhung b}^ a distinct operculum, partly covered 

 by antrorse latero-frontal plumules of which one (in most species) is 

 strongly developed, reaching considerably beyond nostrils. Rictal 

 bristles well developed. Wing rather long, but rounded at tip; 

 seventh and sixth primaries longest, the eighth and fifth but little 

 shorter and nearly equal, the ninth shorter than fourth (sometimes 

 not longer than third), the tenth about one-third to much more than 

 one-third (but less than one-half) as long as ninth; wing-tip about 

 equal to middle toe with claw, or shorter. Tail about three-fourths 

 as long as wing or a little more, distinctly emarginate, the rectrices 

 becoming somewhat broader terminally, with pointed tip. Tarsus 

 long and slender, about one-third as long as wing, much longer than 

 middle toe with claw, the acrotarsium booted; lateral toes about equal 

 (or the outer very slightly longer than the inner), their claws not 

 reaching to base of middle claw; hallux about as long as lateral toes 

 but much stouter, its claw decidedly shorter than the digit; basal 

 phalanx of middle toe adherent to outer toe for most of its length, to 

 inner toe for about half its length. 



Coloration. — Plain olive, olive-grayish or olive-greenish above, the 

 wings dusky with pale edgings and two whitish bands; crown with a 

 concealed patch of orange or scarlet in adult males, this in most 

 species margined with yellow and inclosed between two stripes of 

 black (usually united on forehead); adult females also with black and 

 yellow on crown (except in R. calendido). Young similar to adults 

 but without black, yellow, orange or red on crown. 



Mdlfication. — Nest very bulky, usually more or less pensile, 

 attached to small twigs in spruce or other coniferous trees, composed 

 of delicate plant fibers, mosses, and various soft materials. Eggs 

 5 to 10, whitish or bufl'y, minutely freckled with brown (sometimes 

 apparently immaculate). 



a "Von Kop'^v'^.o'if 6, nom. ^xo}^.= Regulus. " 



