OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA. 53 



insects upon which it feeds. We think that the 

 tender stamens and unripe ovaries receive their 

 share of attention. Indeed, we are confirmed in 

 this belief, by the discovery of these floral organs 

 within the stomachs of several individuals. 



In the intervals of feeding, and also when an- 

 noyed, we are reminded of its presence by a loud, 

 sharp, rattling noise, repeated at irregular intervals, 

 and in a hurried, excited manner. These notes 

 may be expressed with considerable accuracy by 

 the syllables kl-kl-kl-kl pitched in a moderately 

 high key, and gradually increasing in intonation 

 to the close. The song of this Kinglet is affirmed 

 to be an agreeable ditty, neither lacking power 

 nor variety; it is but occasionally heard, and then 

 just a brief time before its retirement from -.the 

 busy haunts of civilized life. 



Its food varies with the seasons. During the 

 winter it feeds upon the seeds of grasses, with the 

 few insects which it manages to extract from 

 creviced bark. The berries of the common-juniper 

 and th. seeds of Amarantus hybridus, Ambrosia 

 artemisicefolia, and various Paniciims, constitute its 

 vegetable diet. In the spring, it is eminently 

 insectivorous, and subsists upon Formica san- 

 guinea, Casnonia pennsylvanica Rhynch&us pini, 

 Harpalus compar, Mycetocharis basillaris, Platy- 

 nus cupripennis, Haltica chalybea, Musca domestica, 

 and Stomoxys calcitrans; besides the ordinary 

 earthworm. 



While engaged in the procurement of food, it is 



