GOLD-CROWNED KINGLET. 415 



and Dee, where however they remain all the winter and spring. 

 Yet that they sometimes perish in great numbers is apparent 

 from their disappearance in particular districts after unusually 

 severe winters. Thus, in the summer of 1888, they were ex- 

 tremely scarce in the neighbourhood of Bathgate ; and yet in 

 that of Edinburgh, not twenty miles distant, their flocks seemed 

 to have undergone no diminution. Great numbers are annually 

 killed, to be stuffed, or in mere wantonness ; and I suppose that 

 not fewer than fifty individuals have been destroyed by myself. 



Young. — In their first plumage, the young are entirely des- 

 titude of yellow on the head, the upper part of which is light 

 greyish-brown, with two lateral bands of greyish-black ; the 

 upper parts of the body are greyish-yellow ; the quills and 

 tail-feathers as in the adult, but not so decidedly marked ; the 

 cheeks yellowish-grey, the lower parts greyish-white tinged 

 with yellow ; the bill and feet much paler than in the adult. 



Progress toward Maturity. — In the end of August I have 

 found the moult completed. The second plumage is similar 

 to that of the old bird, but with this difference that the males 

 have the orange of the crown much less extended, while in the 

 females the feathers there are of a greenish-yellow tint, with- 

 out any orange. 



