74 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



This species is one of the earhest to arrive in spring, making its 

 appearance at Mt. Carmel early in April, the 2nd and 10th of that 

 month being the earliest and latest dates recorded by the -writer. 

 In Cook county, Mr. Coale says that it is a "rather common 

 migrant," but that it was really common only in the spring of 1875, 

 when several were shot in Hyde Park. He had not found it breed- 

 ing, however, though it was found doing so by Mr. G. F. Clingman 

 at Whiting Station, Indiana, near the Illinois line. At St. Louis, 

 Mr. Coale found it very common and nestiug on May 22, 1883. 



Subfamily REGULINiEI.— The Kinglets. 

 Gencs REGULUS Cuvier. 



RegnJus Cut. Le?ons d'Anat. Comp. 179J-1800, tabl. 11. Type, Molacilla r.'gulus Linn. 



Corthylio Cab. Jour. Orn. i, 1853,83. Type, Motacilla calendula Linn. 



"Gen. Chae. Bill slender, much shorter than the head, depressed at base, but becom- 

 ing rapidly compressed; moderately notched at tip. Culmen straight to near the tip, 

 then gently curved. Commissure straight; gonys convex. Rictus well provided with 

 bristles: nostrils covered by a single bristly feather directed forwards (not distinct in 

 calendula). Tarsi elongated, exceeding considerably the middle toe, and without seu- 

 tellae. Lateral toes about equal; hind toe with the claw, longer than the middle one by 

 abouthalf the claw. Claws all much curved. First primary about one third as longas 

 the longest; second equal to fifth or sixth. Tail shorter than the wings, moderately 

 forked, the feathers acuminate. Colors olive-green above, whitish beneath. Size very 

 small." IHisl. N. Am. B.) 



Common Chaeactees. Above olive-greenish, brighter on rump and edges of second- 

 aries and rectrices; secondaries with a broad black basal bar. Beneath dull whitish. 

 Male with a brightly colored crown-patch of red, orange, or yellow, with black stripes 

 iQ some species, in which the female has a yellow crown-patch. Toung (and adult female 

 of R. calendula) without any markings or bright colors on head, 

 n' Crown with a broad black stripe on each side. 



1. B. satrapa. Forehead smoky whitish; crown-patch bieolored in the male— intense 



orange centrally, with a yellow border— uniform yellow in the female. 



2. B. cnvieri. Forehead and a stripe across lores and behind the eye, black; crown- 



patch uniform red in the male, 

 a' Crown without black stripes. 



3. E. calendula. Crown with a central patch of vermilion-red In the aldult male, this 



usually absent, or when pre-ent much reduced in size, in the female. 



The first and third species whose characters are given above are 

 very abundant birds in all parts of the State— the first throughout 

 the winter, the other chiefly during the spring and fall migrations, 

 but wintering to some extent in the southern portions. The second 

 species {R. cuvieri) was discovered many years ago, on the banks of 



