34. Tue Birps Axsout Us. 
plished. I doubt if, in the long run, the elaborate 
performances of our accomplished songsters afford 
more real pleasure than the less elaborated utter- 
ances of unpretentious birds. The golden-crowned 
kinglet occasionally leaves the trees and shrubbery in 
winter, and, entering unoccupied buildings, as stables, 
barns, and wood-sheds, goes upon a spider hunt. 
Whether an original conception or he took the hint 
from the wrens, I do not know. In general make-up 
and manner this bird is very wren-like, and is looked 
upon as one by the majority of people. A word 
more. This species is not a fair-weather creature ; 
the winter of 1892-93 was a proof of this. These 
birds were very common and suffered no inconven- 
ience, although the temperature was at zero (Fahren- 
heit) and there was much snow. They congregated 
in the spruces, larches, and cypresses, and twittered 
as merrily as did the tree-sparrows all winter long. 
The kinglet is not supposed to breed south of Mas- 
sachusetts, and very sparingly there. I am inclined 
to think that careful search would result in finding a 
nest now and then in the hemlock swamps of Pike 
County, Pennsylvania. 
The ruby-crowned kinglet passes “the summer 
and breeding season in the colder parts of the North 
American continent,’ and while there gives abundant 
evidence of its superior vocal powers. The majority 
of our people know it, necessarily, as a pretty mi- 
gratory bird, that merely twitters as it leisurely goes 
northward in early spring or southward in autumn. 
In the Middle States it is seen at its best in April. 
Given a warm, sunny day and plenty of underbrush, 
