RUBY=CROWNED KINGLET. 
The song of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is astonishingly 
loud and clear for so tiny a singer, and it is praised by all 
who are acquainted with it for a most remarkable sweetness 
and brilliance of tone. That, however, does not help us to 
recognize the song in the woods; such expressions might 
apply equally well to the inimitable song of the Hermit 
Thrush. The question is, what occurs in his song which 
differentiates it from all others? To answer that one 
should confine the analysis to simple facts, which must 
largely discount pure sentiment. I quote from Bradford 
Torrey, that incomparable analyst of character in nature, 
who writes comparing the songs of the Golden-crown and 
the Ruby-crown—‘‘The two songs are evidently of a 
common origin, though the Ruby-crown’s is so immeasur- 
ably superior . . . none the less, the resemblance is real. 
The homeliest man may bear a family likeness to his hand- 
some brother, though it may show itself only at times, 
and chance acquaintances may easily be unaware of its 
existence.’’* That is exactly true, the structural characters 
of the two songs bear a strong family resemblance, as is 
evidenced by the ascent and descent of the scale and the 
quavering, trilling notes; but the Ruby-crown reverses the 
order by commonly trilling first and sustaining a few notes 
afterwards. Notice this point in the following songs 
obtained in Smuggler’s Notch, under Mt. Mansfield, Vt. 
pole R rie? 18 Was Sicland gk 
Allegro vivace Sheen cites antes 
Ls 
And still Mr. Torrey notes another character of the song 
which is distinctively good analysis—‘‘a prolonged and 
varied warble, introduced and broken into with delightful 
effect, by a wrennish chatter. For fluency, smoothness, 
and ease, and especially for purity and sweetness of tone, I 
have never heard any bird-song that seemed to me more 
nearly perfect.’”’>+ My next notation seems like concrete 
evidence of the truth of these statements. The song was 
* Vide Footing it in Franconia, p. 192. 
{t Vide Birds in the Bush, b. 236. 
237 
