324 RUBY-CROWNED WREN. 



may be owing to the great number of young and inexperienced 

 brids which are then among them; and frequently at this season 

 I have stood under the tree, motionless, to observe them, while 

 they cleaned among the low branches, sometimes within a foot 

 or two of my head. They are extremely adroit in catching their 

 prey; have only at times a feeble chirp; visit the tops of the tal- 

 lest trees as well as the lowest bushes; and continue generally 

 for a considerable time among the branches of the same tree, 

 darting about from place to place; appearing, when on the top 

 of a high maple, no bigger than humble-bees. 



The Ruby-crowned Wren is four inches long, and six in ex- 

 tent; the upper parts of the head, neck and back are of a fine 

 greenish olive, with a considerable tinge of yellow; wings and 

 tail dusky purplish brown, exteriorly edged with yellow olive; 

 secondaries and first row of wing-coverts edged and tipt with 

 white, with a spot of deep purplish brown across the seconda- 

 ries, just below their coverts; the hind head is ornamented with 

 an oblong lateral spot of vermilion, usually almost hid by the 

 other plumage; round the eye a ring of yellowish white; whole 

 under parts of the same tint; legs dark brown; feet and claws 

 yellow; bill slender, straight, not notched, furnished with a few 

 black hairs at the base; inside of the mouth orange. The female 

 differs every little in its plumage from the male, the colours be- 

 ing less lively, and the bird somewhat less. Notwithstanding 

 my utmost endeavours, I have never been able to discover their 

 nest; though, from the circumstance of having found them some- 

 times here in summer, I am persuaded that they occasionally 

 breed in Pennsylvania; but I know several birds, no larger than 

 this, that usually build on the extremities of the tallest trees in 

 the woods; which I have discovered from their beginning be- 

 fore the leaves are out; many others, no doubt, choose similar 

 situations; and should they delay building until the woods are 

 thicken d with leaves, it is no easy matter to discover them. In 

 Fall they are so extremely fat as almost to dissolve between the 

 fingers as you open them; owing to the great abundance of their 

 favourite insects at that time. 



