BIRD NOTES AFIELD 



THE KINGLET AND GNATCATCHER FAMILY 



Small, slender, insect-eating birds, with delicate bills, generally found 

 in flocks among the trees ; colored olive-green or bluish gray and usually 

 with a special head marking. They are never streaked, even in the young 

 plumage. They are confiding in habits and may be easily observed. 

 The two species of kinglet are olive-green above, brighter on the rump 

 and on the edges of wing and tail-feathers; the wings are barred with 

 whitish; below dull whitish with a faint olive tinge on sides. Young 

 without head ornaments. Length about four inches. 



201 . Western Golden-crowned Kinglet; Regulus satrapa oUvaceus 

 Baird. 



Crown of male black bordered, enclosing a yellow space within 

 which is an orange flame-colored center. Line of white over eye. 

 Female like male but lacking the orange center to the crown. Breeds 

 in the high mountains of northern California, and south in winter irregu- 

 larly in the valleys. Less common than the following. 



202. Ruby-crowned Kinglet; Regulus calendula (Linn.). 



Crown of male brilliant scarlet, without black border. Female with- 

 out special marking. It is, therefore, very difficult for the inexpert to 

 tell the female from some of the dull colored warblers and vireos. There 

 is a fine ring of white around the eye, which will help to distinguish it, 

 although Mutton's vireo also has this mark. Indeed, the female ruby- 

 crown is almost a perfect counterpart of Hutton's vireo, save for its 

 smaller size and more slender bill. Breeds in the high northern moun- 

 tains, south in winter abundantly, frequenting the trees along our village 

 streets as well as in unsettled regions. Birds from Alaska which winter 

 in California have been distinguished as a smaller and darker race. 



203. Western Gnatcatcher; Polioptila co'rulea ohscura Ridgw. 



The gnatcatchers are about the size of the kinglets, or a little 

 larger (length four and a half inches), but are colored bluish gray, black 

 and white, with no olive-greenish or yellowish shade. The only bird 

 with which they might be confounded is the California bush-tit. 



The western gnatcatcher is but a race form of the blue-gray gnat- 

 catcher. It is bluish gray on the back, and white below, ashy on the 

 sides. The forehead and a Hne over the eye are black. Below this 

 black line is a faint white edge. Tail black, the outer feathers white, 

 the next white edged and tipped. Female duller and without black on 

 head. Southern and central California. 



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