74 North aj[erican birds. 



it chiefly occurs in its hreeding-season. In Massadmsctts it is a winter 

 resident i'roni OeUiber until ^fay. In Maine it is met witli in si)rin<f and 

 fall, cliieHy as a niigratury visitor ; a lew also remain, and probably breed, in 

 tlie dense Thiijd s\vanii)S of tliat Statu. They are nuwt abundant in April, 

 and again in October. In the vicinity of Calais the CJ olden-crest is a coni- 

 nion summer resident, and, without doubt, breeds tliere. 



IJr. Woodliouse mentions finding this species in abundance in New Mexico 

 and Texas, assoc^iated with Nuthatches and Titmice. Dr. Cooper i'ouud it 

 abundant in Wasliington Territory, particularly in the winter, and ascertained 

 positively tliat they breed there, by .seeing them feeding their young near 

 Puget Sound, in tlie montii of August. According to Mr. liidgway it is 

 much less numerous in the (ireat l>asin than the Jl. ai/ntdiild. 



The food of this lively and attractive little bird during the sunnner months 

 is alnio.st ovclusively the smaller winged insects, which it industriously pur- 

 sues amid the highest tree-to])s of the forest. At other seasons its habits 

 are more those of tlie titmice, necessity leading it to ransack the crevices of 

 the bark on the trunks and larger lindjs of the forest-trees. It is an expert 

 fly-catcher, taking in.sects readily ujion the wing. 



But little is known with certainty regarding its breeding-habits, and its 

 nest and eggs have not yet been deseril)ed. The presum])tion, however, is 

 that it builds a pensile nest, not unlike the European congener, and lays 

 small eggs finely sjirinkled with buff-colored dots on a white ground, and in 

 size nearly corresponding witii those of our common IIumming-Bird. We 

 must infer that it raises two broods in a season, from the fact that it spends 

 so long a period, from April to October, in its summer abode, and still more 

 because while Mr. Nuttall found them feeding their full-fledged young in 

 May, on the Columbia, Dr. (.'ooper, in the same locality, and Mr. Audubon, 

 in Labrador, observed them doing the same thing in the month of August. 



According to the olt.servations of ^Ir. J. K. Lord, this s[)ecies is very com- 

 mon on Vancouver's Island and along the entire boundary line sepiirating 

 Washington Territory from British Cohnnbia, where he met with them at an 

 altitude of six thousand feet. He states that they build a pensile nest sus- 

 pended from the extreme end of a pine branch, and that they lay from five 

 to seven eggs. These ho does not describe. 



Most writers speak of this Kinglet as having no song, its only note 

 being a single chirp. But in this tiiey are certainly greatly in error. With- 

 out having so loud or so powerful a note as the Buby-crown (7i!. ea/cndidd), 

 for its song will admit of no comparison with the wonderful vocal powers 

 of that species, it yet has a (juite distinctive and prolonged succession 

 of pleasing notes, whicli I have heard it pour forth in the midst of the 

 most inclement weather in February almost uninterruptedly, and for quite 

 an interval. 



Bisclioff obtained a largo nnnd)er of this species at Kodink, and also at 

 Suka, where it seemed to replace the Uul»y-crown. 



