6 EVEKYDAY BIRDS 



ing a morsel or letting out a zee, zee, zee. Now 

 he is yonder, resting upon the air, hovering 

 against a tuft of pine needles, his wings all in a 

 mist, they beat so swiftly. So through the tree 

 he goes, and from one tree to another, tiU pre- 

 sently he is gone for good. 



Once in a great while you may find him feed- 

 ing among the dry leaves on the ground. Then 

 you can really watch him, and had better make 

 the most of your opportunity. Or you may 

 catch him exploring bushes or low savins, which 

 is a chance almost as favorable. The great thing 

 is to become familiar with his voice. With that 

 help you will find him ten times as often as with- 

 out it. He is mostly a bird of the woods, and 

 prefers evergreens, though he does not confine 

 himself to them. 



If you do not know him already, it will be a 

 bright and memorable day — though it be the 

 dead of winter — when you first see him and 

 are able to call him by his regal name, Regulus 

 satrapa. It is a great pity that so common 

 and lovely a creature, one of the beauties of the 

 world, should be unseen by so many good peo- 

 ple. It is true, as we say so often about other 

 things, that they do not know what they miss ; 

 but they miss a good deal, notwithstanding. 



