34 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



plished. I doubt if, in the long run, the elaborate 

 performances of our accomplished songsters afford 

 more real pleasure than the less elaborated utter- 

 ances of unpretentious birds. The golden-crowned 

 kinglet occasionally leaves the trees and shrubbery in 

 winter, and, entering unoccupied buildings, as stables, 

 barns, and wood-sheds, goes upon a spider hunt. 

 Whether an original conception or he took the hint 

 from the wrens, I do not know. In general make-up 

 and manner this bird is very wren-like, and is looked 

 upon as one by the majority of people. A word 

 more. This species is not a fair-weather creature; 

 the winter of 1892-93 was a proof of this. These 

 birds were very common and suffered no inconven- 

 ience, although the temperature was at zero (Fahren- 

 heit) and there was much snow. They congregated 

 in the spruces, larches, and cypresses, and twittered 

 as merrily as did the tree-sparrows all winter long. 

 The kinglet is not supposed to breed south of Mas- 

 sachusetts, and very sparingly there. I am inclined 

 to think that careful search would result in finding a 

 nest now and then in the hemlock swamps of Pike 

 County, Pennsylvania. 



The ruby-crowned kinglet passes " the summer 

 and breeding season in the colder parts of the North 

 American continent," and while there gives abundant 

 evidence of its superior vocal powers. The majority 

 of our people know it, necessarily, as a pretty mi- 

 gratory bird, that merely twitters as it leisurely goes 

 northward in early spring or southward in autumn. 

 In the Middle States it is seen at its best in April. 

 Given a warm, sunny day and plenty of underbrush, 



