224 Bird - Lore 



The late Doctor Coues gives us one of the best descriptions of the ways 

 of this Kinglet. He says: "To observe the manner of the Ruby-crown one need 

 only repair at the right season to the nearest thicket, coppice or piece of shrub- 

 bery. These are its favorite resorts, especially in fall and winter; though some- 

 times, in the spring more particularly, it seems to be more ambitious, and its 

 slight form may be almost lost among the branchlets of the taller trees, where 

 the equally small Parula Warbler is most at home. We shall most likely find 

 it not alone, but in straggling troops, which keep up a sort of companionship 

 with each other. . . They appear to be incessantly in motion, — I 

 know of no birds more active than these, — presenting the very picture of restless, 

 puny energy, making much ado about nothing. 



" The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is one of our most wonderful songsters. During 

 April and early May, the attentive listener can frequently hear the beautiful 

 lay. The notes are clear, very loud and prolonged, full of variety and purity. 

 This exquisite vocalization defies description; we can speak only in general 

 terms of the power, purity and volume of the notes, their faultless modulation 

 and long continuance." 



Audubon says of it: "When I tell you that its song is fully as sonorous as 

 that of the Canary-bird, and much richer, I do not come up to the truth, for it 

 is not only as powerful and clear, but much more varied and pleasing." 



But of many like descriptions of this wonderful song, that of Mr. Chapman 

 is by far the most expressive: "The May morning when first I heard the King- 

 let's song is among the most memorable days of my early ornithological ex- 

 periences. The bird was in the tree-tops in the most impassable bit of woods 

 near my home. The longer and more eagerly I followed the unseen singer, 

 the greater the mystery became. It seemed impossible that a bird which I sup- 

 posed was at least as large as a Bluebird could escape observation in partly 

 leaved trees. 



" The song was mellow and flute-like, and loud enough to be heard several 

 hundred yards: an intricate warble, past imitation or description, and ren- 

 dered so admirably that I never hear it now without feeling an impulse to applaud. 

 The bird is so small, the song so rich and full, that one is reminded of a chorister 

 with the voice of an adult soprano. To extend the comparison, one watches 

 this gifted but unconscious musician flitting about the trees with somewhat the 

 feeling that one observes the choir-boy doffing his surplice and joining his com- 

 rades for a game of tag." 



Remember these tributes and, when the leaves grow yellow and fall away, 

 watch for the Golden-crown among the upper twigs in the orchard; and, when 

 the swamp maples redden and the beeches unfold their velvet paws, listen in 

 the copses for the voice of the matchless Ruby-crown. Like all the smaller, 

 elusive birds, the Kinglets have been known under various names given by the 

 older ornithologists, who were not exact in family groupings and nomenclature. 

 Golden-crested Wren and Golden-crested Tit are among these titles. 



