RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. 1(39 



The Ruby-crowned Wren is found in Louisiana and other Southern States, 

 from November until March. Near Charleston, in January, they are some- 

 times very abundant. The old birds are easily distinguished from the young, 

 without shooting them, on account of the curious difference in their habits, 

 for while the latter keep together among the lowest bushes, the former are 

 generally seen on the top branches of high trees. I have not observed a 

 similar difference in Regulus tricolor. The rich vermilion spot on the head 

 in the present species was wanting in the young, that part being of the same 

 plain colour as the back. I have found this bird in Kentucky also during 

 winter, but generally in southern exposures, and usually in company with 

 the Brown Creeper and the Titmouse. 



The little bird of which I speak appears to feed entirely on small insects 

 and their larvae; and I have often thought it wonderful that there should 

 seem to be no lack of food for it even during weather sometimes too cold 

 for the birds themselves. It appears to migrate during the day only, and 

 merely by passing from one bush to another, or hopping among the twigs, 

 until a large piece of water happens to come in its way, when it rises 

 obliquely to the height of above twenty yards, and then proceeds horizon- 

 tally in short undulations. It emits a feeble chirp at almost every motion. 

 So swiftly, however, does it perform its migration from Louisiana to New- 

 foundland and Labrador, that although it sometimes remains, in the first of 

 these countries until late in March, it has young in the latter by the end of 

 June; and the brood is able to accompany the old birds back to the south in 

 the beginning of August. 



The pair before you are placed on a plant which occurs in abundance from 

 Maine to Labrador. 



Ruey-crowned Wren, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 83. 



Regulus Calendula, Bonap. Syn., p. 91. 



Ruby-crowned Wren, Sylvia Calendula, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 415. 



Ruby-crowned Regulus, Regulus Calendula, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 546. 



Adult Male, in summer plumage. 



Bill short, straight, subulate, very slender, compressed, with inflected 

 edges; upper mandible nearly straight in its dorsal outline, the edges scarcely 

 notched close upon the slightly declinate acute tip; lower mandible straight, 

 acute. Nostrils basal, elliptical, half-closed above by a membrane, covered 

 over by the feathers. The whole form is slender, although the bird looks 

 somewhat bulky, on account of the loose texture of the feathers. Legs 

 rather long; tarsus slender, longer than the middle toe, much compressed, 

 covered anteriorly with a few indistinct scutella; toes scutellate above, the 



