166 RUBY-CROWNED WREN. 



The Ruby-crowned Wren is four inches long, and six in extent ; the 

 upper parts of the head, neck and back are of a fine greenish olive, with 

 a considerable tinge of yellow ; wings and tail dusky purplish brown, 

 exteriorly edged with yellow olive ; secondaries and first row of wing- 

 coverts edged and tipped with white with a spot of deep purplish brown 

 across the secondaries, just below their coverts ; the hind head is orna- 

 mented with an oblong lateral spot of vermilion, usually almost hid 

 by the other plumage ; round the eye a ring of yellowish white ; whole 

 under parts of the same tint; legs dark brown; feet and claws yellow; 

 bill slender, straight, not notched, furnished with a few black hairs at 

 the base ; inside of the mouth orange. The female differs very little in 

 its plumage from the male, the colors being less lively, and the bird some- 

 what less. Notwithstanding my utmost endeavors, I have never been 

 able to discover their nest ; though, from the circumstance of having 

 found them sometimes here in summer, I am persuaded that they occa- 

 sionally breed in Pennsylvania ; but I know several birds, no larger 

 than this, that usually build on the extremities of the tallest trees in the 

 woods ; which I have discovered from their beginning before the leaves 

 are out ; many others, no doubt, choose similar situations ; and should 

 they delay building until the woods are thickened with leaves, it is no 

 easy matter to discover them. In Fall they are so extremely fat as 

 almost to dissolve between the fingers as you open them ; owing to the 

 great abundance of their favorite insects at that time. 



