FAMILY Sylviide. 
Michigan, and the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico. 
The song of the Golden-crowned Kinglet is character- 
ized by a series of three or four (possibly more) high- 
pitched, quavering notes which ascend the scale rather 
unevenly and are succeeded by an indefinite number of 
sharply staccato descending trills, the first three or four 
notes have the zee, zee, zee quality of tone described by 
Bradford Torrey in Birds in the Bush. Bearing in mind 
that this bird is singing mostly in the highest octave of 
the piano and quite a major third above the final C, it is 
not surprising that the ornithologist is at a loss for some 
means to describe such a song. Below, it appears as I 
obtained it among the spruces of the Franconia Notch: 
Thriee 8va 
we 
Allegro 
Bradford Torrey calls these descending tones ‘‘a hurried, 
jumbled, ineffective coda,’’* which is not flattering but 
truthful. The common call is two or three wiry notes in an 
impossible, high E or F expressed by a sibilant see, see see. 
Ruby-crowned This Kinglet is infinitely the superior sing- 
pai er of the two. He is not more beautiful, 
Puree however, in the coloring of his head which 
E. 4.30 inches carries a crest of ruby-red feathers under or- 
April 4th dinary circumstances partly or entirely con- 
cealed, but the little flaming crest is erect under stress of ex- 
eitement. The upper and under parts of the Ruby-crown 
are similar to those of the Golden-crown, and the two wing- 
bars are the same, but there is a tinge of Naples yellow on 
the sides of this bird not present on the other. Nest and 
eggs similar to those of the Golden-crown, but the egg more 
lightly marked. The range of the species is from Alaska to 
central Ungava south to Nova Scotia, northern Maine, On- 
tario, and through the mountains to New Mexico and south- 
ern California. It wintersfrom Iowa and Virginia southward 
to Guatemala. The Kinglets are often associated with the 
Chickadees in winter in the northern parts of New England. 
* Vide Footing it in Franconia, p. 192. 
236 
