392 



KINGLETS AND GNATCATCHERS. 



known species are found in the New World ; (3) the Polioptilinm, or 

 Gnatcatchers, an American group containing about fifteen species, 

 three of whicli are found in the United States. 



The Kinglets and Gnatcatchers are active little birds, and con- 

 stantly flit from limb to limb in their search for food. They are pos- 

 sessed of decided character, build remarkably beautiful nests, and some 

 species are noteworthy songsters. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



A. With a bright-colored crest. 



a. Crest ruby, without black , . 749. Euby-crowned Kinglet (Ad. <5 ). 

 h. Crest yellow, or orange and yellow, bordered by black. 



748. Golden-crowned Kinglet. 



B. Without a colored crest. 



a. Back asliv blue ; outer tail-feathers white. 



751. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 

 h. Back olive-green ; no white in tail. Euby-crowned Kinglet ( 9 and im.). 



748. Regulus satrapa Licht. Golden-crowned Kinglet. Ad. S . 

 — Center of crown bright reddish orange, bordered by yellow and black ; a 

 whitish line over the eye ; rest of upper parts olive-green ; wings and tail 



fuscous, margined with olive-green ; tail slightly 

 forked ; under parts soiled whitish. Ad. 9 . — Sim- 

 ilar, but crown without orange, its center bright 

 yellow, bordered on either side by black. L., 4'07 ; 

 W., 2-14; T.,1-75; B., -28. 



Range. — North America ; breeds from the 

 northern United States northward, and southward 

 along the Eockies into Mexico, and in the Alle- 

 ghanies to North Carolina ; winters from the 

 southern limit of its breeding range to the Gulf 

 States. 



Washington, abundant W. V., Oct. 5 to Apl. 27. Sing Sing, common 

 W. v., Sept. 20 to Apl. 28. Cambridge, very common T. V., common W. V., 

 Sept. 20 to Apl. 25. 



Nest., generally pensile, of green mosses, lined with fine strips of soft inner 

 bark, fine black rootlets, and feathers, in coniferous trees, six to sixty feet 

 from the ground. Eggs., nine to ten, creamy white to muddy cream-color, 

 speckled and blotched with pale wood-brown, and, rarely, faint lavender, 

 •55 X -44. (See Brewster, Auk, v, 1888, p. 337.) 



This Kinglet resembles in habits its Ruby-crowned cousin, with 

 which during the migrations it is frequently associated. Its notes, 

 however, are quite unlike those of that species, its usual call-note being 

 a fine, high ti-ti., audible only to practiced ears. In his extended ac- 

 count of the nesting habits of this species, as observed by him in 

 Worcester County, Mass. (Auk, I. c), Mr. Brewster writes that its song 

 " begins with a succession of five or six fine, shrill, high-pitched, sorae- 



FiG. 115.— Golden-crowned 

 Kinglet. (Natural size.) 



