The Birds’ Calendar 
: 
all the other birds, I heard a very musical twit- 
ter from a nuthatch, quite contrary to his 
custom, and apparently prompted by the desire 
to be in fashion. Among all the woodland 
choir the phcebe alone, for good and sufficient 
reason, as yet remains as dumb as an oyster. 
A few days after the return of the ‘ gold- 
crest’’ I discovered a species of kinglet that 
I had never seen before—the ruby-crowned, 
somewhat more rare, and, as it seemed to me, 
though perhaps from the circumstance of nov- 
elty, more beautiful than even the ‘‘ gold-crest.’’ 
The two kinglets are of the same size (about 
four inches long), and the smallest of all our 
birds except the humming-bird. With the 
same general coloring as the other, the ruby- 
crowned has a suffusion of yellow, and, instead 
of the black and yellow markings on the head, 
the male has a deep red flame on the crown. 
But the specification of its coloring does not 
touch the core of its daintiness as shown in 
figure and motion. The habits of the two are 
the same, and under the circumstance of its 
not being very much rarer than the ‘ gold- 
crest’’ it is a singular fact that perhaps in not 
more than three or four instances has its nest 
ever been discovered. 
102 
