96 THE ruby-crown's manners 



1873, on tilt' branch of a spruce tree, abont fifteen feet from the 

 ground. It contained, I am informed, five young and one egg; 

 the latter did not come under my inspection. The nest is larger 

 than might have been expected — it could hardly be got into a 

 good-sized coffee cup. It is a loosely woven mass of hair and 

 feathers, mixed with moss and some short bits of straw. The 

 nest which Mr. Heushaw believed to be that of a Kinglet was 

 " a somewhat bulky structure, very large for the size of the 

 bird, externally composed of strips of bark, and lined thickly 

 with feathers of the grouse "; it was built on a low branch of a 

 pine. 



To observe the manners of the Ruby-crown, one need only 

 repair, at the right season, to the nearest thicket, coppice, or 

 piece of shrubbery, such as the Titmice, Yellow-rumps and 

 other warblers love to haunt. These are its favorite resorts, 

 especially in the fall and winter; though sometimes, in the 

 spring more particularly, it seems to be more ambitious, and 

 its slight form may be almost lost among the branchlets of the 

 taller trees, where the equally diminutive Panda is most at 

 home. We shall most likely find it not alone, but in strag- 

 gling trooi)S, which keep up a sort of companionship with each 

 other as well as with different birds, though each individual 

 seems to be absorbed in its particular business. We hear the 

 slender wiry note, and see the little creatures skipping nimbly 

 about the smaller branches in endlessly varied attitudes, peer- 

 ing in the crevices of the bark for their minute insect food, 

 taking short nervous flights from one bough to another, twitch- 

 ing their wings as they alight, and always too busy to pay 

 attention to what may be going on around them. They appear 

 to be incessantly in motion — I know of no birds more active 

 than these — presenting the very picture of restless, puny 

 energy, making '^ much ado about nothing". 



American Golden-crested Kinglet 



Regiilus satrapa 



Sylvia regUlUS, Wits. AO. i 1808, 126, pi. 8, f. 0. 



RegUlUS crlStatUS, Banr. Trav. Fla. 1791, 291, no. 107 (at-e Cones, Proc. Pbila. Acad. 1875. 



351)._{7. OAS. ii. 1807, 50, pi. 107.— i?p. Journ. Phi!a. Acad iv. \&i4, 187.— Dp. Aau. 



Lye. N. Y. ii. 1826, 91.— iVu«. Man. i. 1832, i'20.—.4ud. OB. ii 18:i4, 476, pi. IS^. — Tuicns. 



Jouni. Pbila. Acad. viii. 18.39, 154. 

 Parus isatrapa, " Illigar ". (Probably only a mu«ouni name). 



