KINGLETS AND GNATCATCHERS 489 



The Old- World Warblers are generally dull, olivaceous birds with 

 ten, instead of the nine, primaries of our Mniotfltidce, with which, indeed, 

 they have no close relationship. Many of the species are highly musical, 

 whence the origin of the family name, a misfit when applied to the New- 

 World Warblers, to which it was given because of their superficial 

 resemblance to the Old- World forms, rather than for their musical en- 

 dowments. The Kinglets and Gnat catchers are typically represented 

 by the species described below. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



A. With a bright-colored crest. 



a. Crest ruby, without black . 749. RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET (Ad. cf.). 



b. Crest yellow, or orange and yellow, bordered by black. 



748. GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. 



B. Without a colored crest. 



a. Back ashy blue; outer tail-feathers white. 



751. BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER. 

 6. Back olive-green; no white in tail. RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET (9 and im. ). 



748. Regulus satrapa satrapa Licht. GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. 

 Ad. cf. Center of crown bright reddish orange, bordered by yellow and 

 black; a whitish line over the eye; rest of upperparts olive-green; wings and 

 tail fuscous, margined with olive-green; tail slightly forked; underparts 

 soiled whitish. Ad. 9 . Similar, but crown with- 

 out orange, its center bright yellow, bordered on 

 each side by black. L., 4'07; W., 2'14; T., 1'75; 

 B., '28. 



Range. E. N. Am. Breeds in Boreal zones 

 from n. Alberta, s. Keewatin, s. Ungava, and Cape 

 Breton Is. s. in Rocky Mts. to n. Ariz, and N. M., 

 and to Mich., N. Y., and mts. of Mass., and in 

 the higher Alleghanies s. to N. C.; winters from 

 Iowa (casually Minn.), Ont., and N. B. to n. Fla. 

 and Mex. 



Washington, abundant W. V., Sept. 30-Apl. FIG. 136. Golden-crowned 

 27. Ossining, common W. V., Sept. 20-Apl. 28. Kinglet. (Natural size.) 

 Cambridge, very common T. V., not uncommon 



W. V., Sept. 25-Apl. 20. N. Ohio, common W. V., Sept. 26-May 4. Glen 

 Ellyn, common T. V., irregular W. V., Sept. 19-May 8. SE. Minn., common 

 T. V., Mch. 30- ; Sept. 21-Dec. 1. 



Nest, generally pensile, of green mosses, lined with fine strips of soft 

 inner bark, fine black rootlets, and feathers, in coniferous trees, 6-60 feet 

 from the ground. Eggs, 9-10, creamy white to muddy cream-color, speckled 

 and blotched with pale wood-brown, and rarely, faint lavender, "55 x *44. 

 (See Brewster, Auk, V, 1888, 337.) Date, Grand Menan, N. B., May 24. 



This Kinglet resembles in habits its ruby-crowned cousin, with 

 which during the migrations it is frequently associated. Its notes, 

 however, are quite unlike those of that species, its usual call-note being 

 a fine, high ti-ti, audible only to practiced ears. In his extended account 

 of the nesting habits of this species, as observed by him in Worcester 

 County, Mass. (Auk. I. c.), Mr. Brewster writes that its song "begins 

 with a succession of five or six fine, shrill, high-pitched, somewhat 

 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 



