Swallows 705 



the ground. The eggs, numbering from five to ten, are dull whitish or grayish, 

 finely speckled or sprinkled with brown or lilac; when the larger number of eggs 

 is present, they are usually found in two layers, the nest being otherwise too 

 small to hold them. 



The genus Regulus comprises some seven or eight species and an equal num- 

 ber of geographical races, one of the best-known North American forms being 

 the Golden-crowned Kinglet (R. satrapa) of the eastern and northern portions 

 of the country, its place being taken on the northwest coast by the Western 

 Golden-crown (R. s. olivaceus). In these the male has the crown patch rich 

 orange, bordered with yellow, while in the female it is wholly yellow, both sexes 

 having a broad black stripe on each side of the crown. They are very rugged 

 little birds for which the winter has no terrors. Similar to this, but the male 

 with a crown patch of scarlet-vermilion and no black on the head, is the Ruby- 

 crown (R. calendula), which ranges throughout practically the whole of North 

 America. Of the Old World species, the Goldcrest, or Golden-crested Wren 

 (R. regulus), occurs in Europe and northern Asia, with geographical races in 

 the Azores, Canaries, Himalayas, and Japan, and the Firecrest (R. ignicapil- 

 lus) in temperate Europe, Asia Minor, and northern Africa, while what is perhaps 

 the most beautiful member of the genus is the exquisite little Goodfellow's Fire- 

 crest (R. goodfellowi), recently discovered in the high mountains of Formosa. 

 It is similar to R. ignicapillus, but differs in the more brilliant fiery orange-red 

 of the crown, the more distinct black-and-white markings on the sides of the 

 head, and the canary-yellow lower back and rump. 



Dr. Sharpe has placed in this family three other small genera of Asiatic Tit- 

 like birds, but they are of no particular interest. 



THE SWALLOWS 



(Family HirundinidcB) 



Perhaps we of the Northern Hemisphere have been dimly conscious of a void 

 in our bird world without quite realizing what has caused it, when suddenly 

 we hear the familiar twittering and note the graceful evolutions and then 

 we know the Swallows have come. One Swallow may not make a summer, 

 as the old adage has it, but then, as a matter of fact, they rarely come singly 

 but in troops of full strength, and we may then be assured that the rigors of winter 

 and the uncertain days of early spring have given place to the real promise of 

 summer. Only rarely are the Swallows lured on to their summer home by 

 mild weather, to find suddenly that summer has not really come. They may 

 then disappear again for a day or two, or if the fall in temperature has been 

 sudden, they may be found numbed or even lifeless in their last year's homes 

 or in out-of-the-way places. Cold they cannot endure, and to avoid it they often 

 make journeys of hundreds or even thousands of miles. 



In structure and appearance, Swallows are very uniform, and consequently 



