56 RUBY-CROWNED WREN. 
that season are infested with great numbers of small, black-winged 
insects, among which they make great havock. I have often regretted 
the painful necessity one is under of taking away the lives of such 
inoffensive, useful little creatures, merely to obtain a3 more perfect 
knowledge of the species; for they appear so busy, so active, and 
unsuspecting, as to continue searching about the same twig, even 
after their companions have been shot down beside them. They are 
more remarkably so in autumn, which may be owing te the great 
number of young and inexperienced birds which are then among 
them ; and frequently, at this season, I have stood under the tree, mo- 
tionless, to observe them, while they gleaned among the low branches 
sometimes within a foot or two of my head. They are extremely 
adroit in catching their prey; have only at times a feeble chirp; visit 
the tops of the tallest trees, as well as the lowest bushes; and con- 
tinue generally for a considerable time among the branches of the 
same tree, darting about from place to place; appearing, when on the 
top of a high maple, no bigger than humble-bees. 
The Ruby-crowned Wren is four inches long, and six in extent; 
the upper parts of the head, neck, and back, are of a fine greenish 
_ olive, with a considerable tinge of yellow; wings and fee dusky— 
purplish brown, exteriorly edged with yellow olive; secondaries, and 
first row of wing-coverts, edged and tipped with white, with a spot 
of deep purplish brown across the secondaries, just below their 
coverts; the hind head is ornamented with an oblong lateral spot of 
vermilion, usually almost hid by the other plumage ; round the eye, a 
ring of yellowish white ; whole under parts, of the same tint; legs, 
dark brown; feet and claws, yellow; bill, slender, straight, not 
notched, furnished with a few black hairs at the base ; inside of the 
mouth, orange. The female differs very little in its plumage from the 
male, the colors being less lively, and the bird somewhat less. Not- 
withstanding my utmost endeavors, I have never been able to discover 
their nest; though, from the circumstance of having found them 
sometimes here in summer, I am persuaded that they occasionally 
breed in Pennsylvania; but I know several birds, no larger than this, 
that usually build on the extremities of the tallest trees in the woods ; 
which I have discovered from their beginning before the leaves are 
out; many others, no doubt, choose similar situations; and should 
they delay building until the woods are thickened with leaves, it is no 
easy matter to discover them. In fall, they are so extremely fat, as 
almost to dissolve between the fingers as you open them; owing to 
the great abundance of their favorite insects at that time. 
