KINGLETS AND GNATCATCIIERS. 



393 



opfilincf, or 

 ;en species, 



s, and con- 

 ley are pos- 

 ,s, and some 



LET (Ad. s ). 

 ED Kinglet. 



NATCATCIIER. 



( 9 und iin.), 



LET, All. S , 



nd black ; a 

 ngs and tail 

 tail slightly 

 Id. 9 .—Sim- 

 enter bright 

 ck. L.,4-07; 



^ from the 

 1 soutliward 

 n the Alle- 

 froin tho 



Ito the Gulf 



|g, common 

 inon W. v., 



|f soft inner 

 sixty feet 

 'cam -col or, 

 lavender, 



lisin, with 

 llt.s notes, 

 lote being 

 lendcd ac- 

 |y him in 

 its song 

 led, some- 



what faltering notes, and ends with a short, rapid, rather explosive 

 warble. The opening notes are given in a rising key, b\it the song 

 falls rapidly at the end. The whole may be ex{)ressed as follows: izee, 

 tzee, tzee, tzee, ti, ti, ter, ti-ti-ti-ti." 



Muffled in its thick coat of feathers, the diminutive Goldcrest 

 braves our severest winters, living evidence that, given an abundance 

 of food, temperature is a secondary factor in a bird's existence. 



749* Zlegfulus caAendula* (/w'»/f.). Rr»Y-rHow\Ki> KiNMii.Kr. (Sec 

 Fig. t^i^., a.) All. 6 .—Crown with a partly concealed crest of bright red ; re.st 

 of upper [mrts grayish olive-green, brighter on the rump; wings and tail fus- 

 cous, edged witli olive-green; two whitish wing-burs; tail sliglitly forked, 

 the middle feathers shortest; under parts soiled wiiitish, more or less tinged 

 with i)utl'y. Ad. 9 ami ///;.— Similar, but without the red erown-pateli. h., 

 4-41 ; W., 2-24 ; T., 1-73; B., -29. 



Remarks.— YcmaV'n and young are warblerlike in general uppcurance, but 

 note the short first primary, barely one inch in length. 



RaiKje. — North America; breeds from the nortliern border of the United 

 States north w iird ; winters from South Carolina soutliward into .Mexico. 



Washington, abundant T. V., Apl. 5 to .May 10; Sept. 2.") to Nov. 1; occa- 

 sionally wintei-s. Sing Sing, comm(m T. V., Apl. 8 to May l.'J; Sept. li"> to 

 Nov. 3. Cambridge, rather common T. V., Apl. 10 to May r>; Oct. lu to 

 Nov. .'). 



AVs<, usually semipensilc, of moss, fine strips of bark, neatly interwoven, 

 lined with fcatliers, in coniferous trees, twelve to thirty feet from the ground. 

 Egtjs., five to nine, dull whitish or pale butly, faintly speckled or spotted with 

 pale brown, chietly at the larger end, •.").") x •4.'3 (l)avie^. 



When the leaves begin to turn you will notice numerous very 

 small, olive-green birds flitting about the terminal twigs of the trees 

 and lower growth, in the woods, orchard.s, or hedgerows. They re- 

 semble Warblers, but are much tamer — you can almost touch them — 

 and have a habit of nervously flitting their wings every few seconds, 

 perhaps accompanying the action by a wrenlike scolding note. You 

 will not often hear them sing at this season, and there is little in their 

 voice or appearance to tell you that they are among the most famous 

 of feathered songsters. 



The May morning when first I heard this Kinglet's .song is among 

 the most memorible of my early ornithological experiences. The 

 bird was in the tr e tops in tho most impassable bit of woods near my 

 home. The longer and more eag(>rly I followed the unseen singer the 

 great* f the mystery became. It seemed inifmssible that a bird which 

 I supposed was at least as large as a Tiluebird could escape observation 

 in the partly leaved trees. The song was mellow ami flutelike. and 

 loud enough to be heard several hundred yards; an intricate warble 

 past imitation or description, and rendered so admirably that I never 



J ^ 



