The Western Golden-crowned Kinglet 
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. 
Taken in the Warner Mis. Photo by the Author 
THE SCENE OF KINGLET’S SUMMER COURT 
Concerning the 
“song,” one is a little 
puzzled how to report. 
One hears, no doubt, 
many little snatches and 
phrases which have in 
them something of the 
quality of the better- 
known carol of the 
Ruby-Crown, but they 
lack distinctness and 
completion. Moreover, 
they are never given 
earnestly, even in the 
height of the mating 
season, but, as it were, 
reminiscently, mere by¬ 
products of a contented 
mood. It may seem a 
little fanciful, but I am 
half tempted to believe 
that the Gold-crests are 
losing the ancient art of 
minstrelsy. The lines 
have fallen unto them in 
such pleasant places; 
food and shelter are no 
problems, and there is 
nothing of that shock 
and hazard of life which 
reacts most certainly 
upon the passion of song. 
And then it is her fault, 
anyway. Phyllis would 
bower than be serenaded, 
rather whisper sweet nothings in the mossy 
never so ably. Oh, perilous house of content! 
It remained for Mr. J. H. Bowles, of Tacoma, Washington, after 
years of untiring effort, to discover, in 1902, the first nest of this western 
variety. And then it came by way of revelation—a fir branch caught 
798 
