Ruby-Crowned Kinglet {Reguius calendula) 



By Juliette A. Owen 



"What wondrous power from heaven upon thee wrought? 

 What prisoned Ariel within thee broods?'' 



— Cclia Thaxtcr. 



"Thou singest as if the God of Wine 

 Had helped thee to a valentine ; 

 A song in mockery and despite 

 Of shades and dews and silent night, 

 And steady bliss and all the loves 

 Now sleeping in these peaceful groves." 



— Wordsworth. 



Like a bee with its honey, when the Ruby-crown has unloaded his vocal 

 sweetness, there is comparatively little left of him, and, ebullient with an energy 

 that would otherwise rend him, his incredible vocal achievement is the safety valve 

 that has so far preserved his atoms in their Avian semblance. 



Dr. Coues says that his lower larynx, the sound-producing organ, is not much 

 bigger than a good-sized pin's head, and the muscles that move it are almost micro- 

 scopic shreds of flesh. "If the strength of the human voice were in the same 

 proportion to the size of the larynx, we could converse with ease at a distance of 

 a mile or more." 



"The Kinglet's exquisite vocalization," he continues, "defies description ; we 

 can only speak in general terms of the power, purity and volume of the notes, their 

 faultless modulation and long continuance. Many doubtless, have listened to this 

 music without suspecting that the author was the diminutive Ruby-crown, with 

 whose commonplace utterance, the slender, wiry 'tsip,' they were already familiar. 

 This delightful role, of musician, is chiefly executed during the mating season, and 

 the brief period of exaltation which precedes it. It is consequently seldom heard 

 in regions where the bird does not rear its young, except when the little performer 

 breaks forth in song on nearing its summer resorts." 



When Rev. J. H. Langille heard his first Reguius calendula, he said, "The 

 song came from out of a thick clump of thorns, and was so loud and spirited that 

 I was led to expect a bird at least as large as a thrush. Chee-oo, chee-oo, chee-oo, 

 choo, choo, tseet, tseet, te-tseet, te-tseet, te-tseet, etc., may represent this wonder- 

 ful melody, the first notes being strongly palatal and somewhat aspirated, the 

 latter slender and sibilant and more rapidly uttered ; the first part being also so 

 full and animated as to make one think of the water-thrush, or the winter wren; 

 while the last part sounded like a succeedant song from a slender-voiced warbler. 

 Could all this come from the throat of this tiny, four-inch Sylvia? I was obliged 

 to believe my own eyes, for I saw the bird many times in the act of singing. The 

 melody was such as to mark the day on which I heard it." 



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