168 



RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. 



-f- Regulus calendula, Linn. 

 PLATE CXXXIIL— Male and Female. 



The history of this diminutive bird is yet in a great measure unknown; 

 and, although I have met with it in places where it undoubtedly breeds, I 

 have not succeeded in finding its nest. 



On the 27th of June, 1833, while some of my party and myself were 

 rambling over the deserts of Labrador, the notes of a warbler came on my 

 ear, and I listened with delight to the harmonious sounds that filled the air 

 around, and which I judged to belong to a species not yet known to me. 

 The next instant I observed a small bird perched on the top of a fir tree, and 

 on approaching it, recognised it as the vocalist that had so suddenly charmed 

 my ear and raised my expectations. We all followed its quick movements, 

 as it flew from tree to tree backwards and forwards without quitting the 

 spot, to which it seemed attached. At last, my son John raised his gun, 

 and, on firing, brought down the bird, which fell among the brushwood, 

 where we in vain searched for it. 



The next day we chanced to pass along the same patch of dwarf wood, in 

 search of the nests of certain species of ducks, of which I intend to speak on 

 another occasion. We were separated from the woods by a deep narrow 

 creek; but the recollection of the loss of the bird, which I was sure had 

 been killed, prompted me to desire my young friends to dash across and 

 again search for it. In an instant six of us were on the opposite shore, and 

 dispersed among the woods. My son was so fortunate as to find the little 

 Regulus among the moss near the tree from which it had fallen, and brought 

 it to me greatly disappointed. Not so was I; for I had never heard the full 

 song of the Ruby-crowned Wren, and as I looked at it in my hand, I could 

 not refrain from exclaiming — "And so this is the tiny body of the songster 

 from which came the loud notes I heard yesterday!" When I tell you that 

 its song is fully as sonorous as that of the Canary-bird, and much richer, I 

 do not come up to the truth, for it is not only as powerful and clear, but 

 much more varied and pleasing to the ear. We looked for its mate and its 

 nest, but all around us was silent as death, or only filled with the hum of 

 millions of insects, rmade a drawing of it in its full spring plumage. A 

 month later, the young of this species were seen feeding among the bushes. 



