92 THE BIEDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



black, with the basal portion white and a few white spots 

 on some of the outer webs; color of under surface of the 

 body, white, with a broad slaty blue band across the 

 breast, while the sides of the body are slaty with white 

 bars; the white of the throat extends around on the back 

 of the neck, forming a more or less complete collar, and 

 there is a white spot in front of the eye and another just 

 below it; some individuals have white dots on the upper 

 surface of the wings, and in certain plumages the slaty 

 breast band is suffused with rusty; the bill is two inches 

 long, strong, sharp-pointed, and black, excepting near 

 the base of the lower part of tip, where it is of a horn 

 color; the wings are marked with small specks of white; 

 legs,. extremely short, of a dirty yellow color, above the 

 knee bare of feathers for half an inch; the two exterior 

 toes are united together for nearly their whole length; 

 claws, stout and black. The female has a reddish brown 

 band across the under side of the body below the slaty 

 breast band, while the sides of the body are also of this 

 color. 



The nest is generally built in a hole in a bank; the bird 

 with claws and bill digs this hole from three to eight feet 

 into the bank; the eggs are generally laid somewhere 

 along this channel, seldom at the extremity. The nest is 

 made of loose grass and feathers and is built during the 

 latter part of April. The eggs are from five to eight in 

 number, of a pure crystal white and measiire one and a 

 third by one inch in size. 



The birds spend the winter in the southern Middle and 

 Southern States, few wintering in New Jersey; they are 

 found in the Northern States during the warm weather, 

 arriving about the latter part of March and not leaving 

 until ice on the water puts a stop to the food supply. 



Their food is exclusively fish. 



Kinglet^ Crolden'cromned. — The two Kinglets, the 

 golden-crowned and the ruby-crowned, are, next to the 



