KINGLETS. 143 



bird's, but here, how could such a crown as this 

 ever have been hidden? Why, the black lines 

 came way down to his absurd little bill, and the 

 gold between them was plain enough to be seen 

 almost as far off as the bird himself. 



I came in bewildered enough, but the moment 

 I saw DeKay's plates I understood it all. This 

 was the golden-crowned, and my pigmies were the 

 ruby-crowned kinglets. After that the two kinds 

 were here in great numbers for two weeks, and 

 before the rubies left I surprised one of them into 

 showing his beautiful scarlet crown. The ruby- 

 crowns went as they had come, two weeks in ad- 

 vance of the goldens. 



When they were both here I used to stand 

 under the apple-trees and watch them. Some- 

 times there must have been twenty in one tree. 

 They were very tame, but rarely found time to 

 look at me. 



Seen together the golden is appreciably the 

 smaller; his legs look shorter, and he is not so 

 plump, appears more like an ordinary bird. 

 His back is grayer than the ruby's, and when his 

 wings are crossed over it you get an effect of bars 

 near the tips. Mr. Golden-crown has a concealed 

 patch of cadmium orange in the centre of his 

 crown, but his wife is content with the plain gold, 

 and the children often show neither black nor 

 gold. The goldens seem to have less of the wild 

 bluebird habit of lifting their wings when lit, but 



