282 Trees, Stars, and Birds 



belongs in the vertebrate subkingdom which is the group 

 of backboned animals, and in the class Aves, or birds. 

 Because the feet of the kinglet are fitted for perching 

 he would place it in the order Passer es, or perching birds. 

 Because of the shape of its beak and of other characters 

 he would decide that it belongs in the Sylviidce, or family 

 of Old World warblers, and in the genus Regulus. Then, 

 because of the red feathers on its crown he would assign 

 his kinglet to the species Regulus calendula, the ruby- 

 crowned kinglet. His complete scheme of classification, 

 then, is as follows : 



Kingdom Animal 



Subkingdom Vertebrate 



Class Aves, or birds 



Order Passeres, or perching birds 



Family Sylviidae, or Old World warblers 



Genus Regulus, or kinglet 



Species Regulus calendula, or ruby-crowned 

 kinglet 



The name of the species tells exactly which kind of 

 bird it is ; the species calendula includes only the ruby- 

 crowned kinglets, not the golden-crowned or other king- 

 lets. 



The genus is a larger group consisting of closely related 

 species. All different kinds of kinglets belong to the 

 genus Regulus. 



The family is a still larger group consisting of related 

 genera ; the family Sylmidce includes not only the king- 

 lets but many of their relatives in the Old World. 



