232 THE GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. 



General Range. — North America generally, except Pacific Coast, breeding 

 in the northern and elevated parts of the United States, and northward ; migrating 

 southward in winter to Guatemala. 



Range in Ohio. — Usually common winter resident and migrant throughout 

 the state; sometimes locally absent. 



OUR artist has done well to picture the royal midgets among the autumn 

 leaves. It is when the crimson and gold are being lavished on every hillside 

 and the year is sinking in sumptuous splendor that these little whisperers steal 

 in upon us almost unnoticed. But when the transient glory of the trees has 

 turned to sodden mold, the cheerful company of Kinglets is still to be found — 

 ungarnered leaves too full of sap for October's vintage, staunch potentates 

 unshaken by the winter winds. 



It is passing strange that bits of birdanity no bigger than Hop-o'-my- 

 Thumb should prefer to spend the winter with us, but so it is, and we are 

 mightily cheered by their presence. Zero weather has no terrors for them 

 and the good fellowship of winter seems in no wise marred by storms. 



Kinglets go in troops which keep a little to themselves, but which are 

 still enrolled in the membership of some larger bird-troop of winter. Brown 

 Creepers, especially, affect their company with a persistence which iiiust some- 

 times be a little vexing to the more vivacious birds ; but there is no complaint 

 or hauteur on the part of the latter, only royal tolerance. Evergreen trees are 

 most frequented by Kinglets, and h^-e they are almost invariably to be found 

 during the severest weather. With tireless energy they search both bark and 

 twigs for insects' eggs and larvae scarce visible to the human eye. They flut- 

 ter about at random, hang head downward if need be, dart and start and twist 

 and squirm, until one frequently despairs of catching fair sight of the crown 

 for the necessary fraction of a second. Of course it's a Golden-crown; but 

 then, we want to see it. 



And all the time Cutikins is carrying on an amiable conversation with his 

 neighbor, interrupted and fragmentary to be sure, but he has all day to it — 

 tss-tss-tsip-chip-tseek. If you draw too near, chip can be made to express 

 vigorous disapproval. Only now and then does one hear snatches of the 

 northern song. It has something of the quality and phrasing of the better- 

 known Ruby-crown's, but lacks distinctness, and is perhaps not so loud. One 

 May morning a large company of Golden-crowned Kinglets held a concert in 

 the trees of the Oberlin College campus. The fresh-leaved maples fairly re- 

 sounded to their spirited music for a space of fifteen minutes; then all was 

 silent. The Kings recollected themselves. 



