KINGLETS AND GNATCATCHERS. 393 



what faltering notes, and ends with a short, rapid, rather explosive 

 warble. The opening notes are given in a rising key, but the song 

 falls rapidly at the end. The whole may be expressed as follows : tzee, 

 tzee, tzee, tzee, ti, ti, ter, ti-ti-ti-ti" 



Muffled in its thick coat of feathers, the diminutive Goldcrest 

 braves our severest winters, living evidence that, given an abundance 

 of food, temperature is a secondary factor in a bird's existence. 



749. Regulus calendula (Linn.}. RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. (See 

 Fig. 58, a.) Ad. $ . Crown \vith a partly concealed crest of bright red ; rest 

 of upper parts grayish olive-green, brighter on the rump ; wings and tail fus- 

 cous, edged with olive-green; two whitish wing-bars; tail slightly forked, 

 the middle feathers shortest ; under parts soiled whitish, more or less tinged 

 with buffy. Ad. ? and Im Similar, but without the red crown-patch. L., 

 4-41; W., 2-24; T., 1'73; B., -29. 



Remarks. Females and young are warblerlike in general appearance, but 

 note the short first primary, barely one inch in length. 



Range. North America; breeds from the northern border of the United 

 States northward ; winters from South Carolina southward into Mexico. 



Washington, abundant T. V., Apl. 5 to May 10; Sept. 25 to Nov. 1 ; occa- 

 sionally winters. Sing Sing, common T. V., Apl. 8 to May 13 ; Sept. 16 to 

 Nov. 3. Cambridge, rather common T. V., Apl. 10 to May 5; Oct. 10 to 

 Nov. 5. 



Nest, usually semipensile, of moss, fine strips of bark, neatly interwoven, 

 lined with feathers, in coniferous trees, twelve to thirty feet from the ground. 

 Eggs, five to nine, dull whitish or pale buft'y, faintly speckled or spotted with 

 pale brown, chiefly at the larger end, '55 x - 43 (Davie). 



When the leaves begin to turn you will notice numerous very 

 small, olive-green birds flitting about the terminal twigs of the trees 

 and lower growth, in the woods, orchards, or hedgerows. They re- 

 semble Warblers, but are much tamer you can almost touch them 

 and have a habit of nervously flitting their wings every few seconds, 

 perhaps accompanying the action by a wrenlike scolding note. You 

 will not often hear them sing at this season, and there is little in their 

 voice or appearance to tell you that they are among the most famous 

 of feathered songsters. 



The May morning when first I heard this Kinglet's song is among 

 the most memorable of my early ornithological experiences. The 

 bird was in the tree tops in the most impassable bit of woods near my 

 home, The longer and more eagerly I followed the unseen singer the 

 greater the mystery became. It seemed impossible that a bird which 

 I supposed was at least as large as a Bluebird could escape observation 

 in the partly leaved trees. The song was mellow and flutelike. and 

 loud enough to be heard several hundred yards ; an intricate warble 

 past imitation or description, and rendered so admirably that I never 



