FAMILY Sylviidce 



Ruby-crowned kinglet, Regulus calen- 

 dula calendula. 4.00 



Distribution: North America in general, 

 in wooded districts, north to the limit of trees 

 from Labrador to Alaska. Breeding south 

 to the middle United States, and wintering 

 in the southern part of the United States, 

 Mexico and Central America. Common in 

 winter in the protected valleys on the Pacific 

 Coast north to Washington. Two closely 

 related species are the Sitka kinglet, found 

 on the Pacific Coast from Alaska to 

 southern British Columbia, south in win- 

 ter to middle California; and the dusky 

 kinglet of Guadaloupe Island, Lower Cali- 

 fornia. 



The ruby-crowned kinglet may be found in 

 company with the golden-crowned and chick- 

 adees in second growth woods, and in the 

 tangle of alder and vine maples along streams. 

 Its call or alarm note is a sharp chit-it, chit-it- 

 it which together with its peculiar habit of 

 daintily "flicking" its wings as it moves 

 nervously from branch to branch, makes its 

 identification easy. The song of the ruby- 

 crowned kinglet is a gem of bird music. It 

 begins with a series of rapidly uttered couplets 

 low and quavering, and ends with two or 

 three sets of triplets. It is such a fascinating 

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