THE RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. 2 
nificant dawn was struggling with great masses of heaped-up clouds,—the 
incredulities and fears of the world’s night; but now and again the invincible 
sun found some tiny rift and poured a flood of tender gold upon a favored 
spot where stood some solitary tree or expectant sylvan company. Along the 
river ban’: all was still. There were no signs of spring, save for the modest 
springing violet and the pious buckeye, shaking its late-prisoned fronds to 
the morning air, and tardily setting in order its manifold array of Easter 
candles. The oak trees were gray and hushed, and the swamp elms held their 
peace until the fortunes of the morning should be decided. Suddenly from 
down the river path there came a tiny burst of angel music, the peerless song 
of the Ruby-crown. Pure, ethereal, without hint of earthly dross or sadness, 
came those limpid welling notes, the sweetest and the gladdest ever sung—at 
least by those who have not suffered. It was not indeed the greeting of the 
earth to the risen Lord, but rather the annunciation of the glorious fact by 
heaven’s own appointed herald. 
The Ruby-crowned Kinglet has something of the nervousness and vivaci- 
ty of the typical wren. It moves restlessly from twig to twig, flirting its 
wings with a motion too quick for the eyes to follow, and frequently uttering 
a titter of alarm, chit-tit or chit-it-it. During migrations the birds swarm 
thru the tree-tops like Warblers, but are often found singly or in small com- 
panies in thickets or open clusters of saplings. In such situations they exhibit 
more or less curiosity, and if one keeps reasonably still he is almost sure to 
be inspected from a distance not exceeding four or five feet. It is here too 
that the males are found singing in spring. The bird often begins sotto voce 
with two or three high squeaks as tho trying to get the pitch down to the 
range of mortal ears before he gives his full voice. The core of the song is 
something like tew, tew, tew, tew, titoorect’, titoorect’,, the last phrases being 
given with a rising inflection, and with an accent of ravishing sweetness. The 
tones are so pure that they may readily be whistled by the human listener, 
and a musical contest provoked in which one is glad to come out second 
best. 
Having heard only the preparatory spring song for years, it was a matter 
of considerable rejoicing to come upon the birds at home in Stevens County. 
They were especially common in the neighborhood of Newport, and they sang 
incessantly and loudly from the depths of the giant larches, which abound 
there. It appears that the full-fledged breeding song is quite different from 
the delicate migratory carol. The preliminary notes are of much the same 
quality, but instead of accenting the final syllable of the titoorect phrase, and 
repeating this, the phrase is given only once, with a sort of tittering, tremolo 
effect, and the emphasis is thrown upon a series of strong, sharp terminal 
notes, four or five in number, and of a uniform character—the whole some- 
what as follows: few tew few tew titteretterctter reet, cheep’ cheep’ cheep’ 
