510 Birds of Colorado 



Genus REGULUS. 



Small birds — wing under 3-0 — with a very slender, straight bill, 

 shorter than the head ; nostrils slightly overhung but not concealed by 

 small feathers ; wings rather long and pointed, exceeding the tail ; outer 

 primary very short, always less than half the nest ; tail slightly forked, 

 the feathers pointed ; tarsus slender and booted, i.e. covered in front 

 with one long scute ; plumage olive-green with a patch of red or yellow 

 on the crown. 



About ten species from the northern parts of the Old and New 

 Worlds. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Crown with orange or yellow bordered by black. 



R. s. olivaceus, p. 510. 



B. Crown with a red spot but no black. R. calendula, S p. 511. 



C. Crown plain, like the back. R. calendula, ? p. 511. 



Western Golden-crowned Kinglet. 

 Regulus satrapa olivaceus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 748a — Colorado Records — Ailten 72, p. 195 ; 

 Drew 81, pp. 87, 244 ; 85, p. 15 ; Allen & Brewster 83, p. 154 ; Morrison 

 88, p. 71 ; Cooke 97, p. 123 ; Henderson 09, p. 241 ; Betts 10, p. 219. 



Description. — Male — Centre of the crown bright orange red, narrowly 

 edged with yellow ; around this a V-shaped patch of black, while 

 a narrow frontal and superciliary band of white bounds the black ; 

 rest of the upper-parts olive, greyer anteriorly, greener posteriorly ; 

 wings and tail dusky, edged with ohve-yellow, and the middle and 

 greater coverts tipped with whitish ; under-parts white, washed with 

 dusky olive ; iris brown, bill black, legs dusky brown. Length 3-75 ; 

 wing 2-20 ; tail 1-5 ; culmen -25 ; tarsus -70. 



The female is like the male, but has the orange part of the crown 

 replaced by yellow ; young birds have the crown brownish-grey with 

 the black V-mark rather indistinct. 



Distribution. — Western North Anaerica, breeding from Alaska to 

 Mount Whitney in California, and to Colorado, wintering south to 

 Guatemala. 



The Golden- crowned appears to be quite a rare resident in the 

 mountains of Colorado, while it is perhaps a little more common as 

 a migrant on the plains in spring ; only very few observers have 

 noted it. 



Aiken and Allen and Brewster record it from El Paso co., probably 

 on migration, at the end of April and begimiing of May. Drew obtained 

 an adult male on July 1st, at 11,500 feet, and a young bird just fledged 



