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392 



KINGLETS AND GNATCATCIIERS. 



1 1 



]! 







known species aro found in the New World ; (3) the PolioptilincP,, or 

 Gnateatchers, an American group containing about fifteen species, 

 three of which are found in the United States. 



The Kinglets and Gnateatchers are active little birds, and con- 

 stantly flit from limb to limb in their search for food. They are pos- 

 sessed of decided character, build remarkably beautiful nests, and some 

 species are noteworthy songsters. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



A. With a bright-colored crest. 



a. Crest ruby, without black . . 749. Euby-crowned Kinglet (Ad. i ). 

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



718. Golden-crowned Kinglet. 



B. Without a colored crest. 



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



751. Rhe-orav Gnatcatcuer. 

 h. Back olive-green ; no white in tail. Rlby-crowneu Kinglet ( 9 and iin.). 



748. ReguluB satrapa Licht. Golden-crowned Kinglet. Ad. s . 

 — Center of crown bright reddish orange, bordered by yellow and black ; a 

 whitish line over the eye; rest of upper parts olive-green; wings and tail 



fuscous, niarginetl with olive-green ; tail sliglitly 

 forked ; under parts soiled whitish. Ad. 9 . — Sim- 

 ilar, but crown without orange, its center bright 

 yellow, bordered on either side by black. L., 4-07 ; 

 W., 2-14; T.,1-75; B., -28. 



Ji(tri(fe.—^orth America; breeds from the 

 northern United States northward, and southward 

 along the Koekies into Mexico, and in the Allc- 

 gluinics to North Carolina ; winters from tho 

 southern limit of its breeding range to the Gulf 

 States. 



Washington, abundant W. V., Oct. 5 to .\pl. 27. Sing Sing, conmion 

 W. v., Sept. 20 to Apl. 28. Cambridge, very common T. V., common W. V., 

 Sept. 20 to Apl. 25. 



Kent, generally pensile, of green mosses, lined with fine strips of soft inner 

 bark, fine black rootlets, and feathers, in coniferous trees, six to sixty feet 

 from tlie ground. 7:';/.'/''') "''"^ ^"-^ ^^'*^i creamy wJiite to imiddy cream-color, 

 speckled and blotelied with pale wood-brown, and, rarely, faint lavender, 

 •55 X -44. (See Brewster, Auk, v, 1888, p. 337.) 



This Kinglet resoinblos in habits its Ruby-crowned cousin, with 

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

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

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

 count of the nesting halnts of this species, as observed by liim in 

 Worcester County, Mass. (Auk. /. c), Mr. Brewster writes that its song 

 " begins with a succession of five or six fine, shrill, high-pitched, some- 



Fio. 11.5.- Golden-crowned 

 Kinj;let. (Natural size.) 



