WINTER COMRADES 147 



as the Hudsonian Chickadee. They differ in 

 plumage from our common Chickadee in hav- 

 ing a brown cap, and brown on the sides, with 

 a brownish tinge on the back. They are about 

 the same in length and their notes are somewhat 

 similar in quality, particularly the '' dee-dee- 

 dock'' they utter as they feed. I find them in 

 the region about the Pleasant River in the 

 Maine woods, and about Mt. Katahdin. 



Golden-crowned Kinglet. In fall or winter, 

 when making your way among evergreen trees, 

 whether it be in park or forest lands, you 

 will at times hear high-pitched, wiry sounds, so 

 fine that they seem to come from some insect 

 that has escaped the clutches of Jack Frost. 

 If you are not in a hurry and will take pains to 

 follow up these shrill notes, you will find well 

 up in the branches of the evergreens, flitting and 

 darting about in a manner not unlike Warblers 

 in summer, tiny birds with bright-colored 

 crowns, that are always on the move. These 

 are the Kinglets, two winter visitors that belong 

 to a family quite distinct from the Chickadees 

 and Nuthatches, yet are often found in their 

 company. The more common of these midgets is 

 the Golden-crowned, so named from the patch 

 of bright yellow on its crown. The upper parts 

 are olive-green, with dusky wings and tail. On 

 each side of the crown patch are black lines, 

 and there is a whitish line over the eye. The 

 under parts are grayish white. 



These tiny sprites are scarcely more than 

 four inches long, one of the smallest of our 

 birds. They are unafraid, and seem engaged in a 



