TllE GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. ") 



This is the golden-crowned kinglet. It is readily recognized by this 

 active fussy habit, and its small size, olive back and grayish under 

 parts. There are two yellowish white bands on the wings enclosing 

 a dusky patch. The top of the head of the male has a bright orange 

 patch, edged with yellow, which is in turn margined with black. In the 

 female the orange is replaced by yellow* 



The golden-crown kinglet is, with the exception of the ruby- 

 throated humming bird, the smallest of our native birds, yet it spends 

 the winter as far north as M issachusetts. It is a perfect marvel that such 

 a little atom of flesh and blood does not freeze solid during cold nights 

 when the thermometer indicates a temperature several degrees below zero. 

 A piece of beef containing four cubic inches would become solid in 

 twenty minutes if exposed to such a low temperature. The body of the 

 kinglet does not contain one cubic inch of flesh yet it. is rare th.it a living 

 kinglet is ever frozen. 



The blood circulates very rapidly in all birds, and thus their bodily 

 temperature is high* Then the feathers with which the body is coveted 

 are, especially in birds which live in cold climates in winter, very thick, 

 and form a perfect nonconductor of heat or cold, thus the cold is kept out 

 and the heat in- 



While with us the golden-crown has a little weak, squeaking chirp 

 which cannot be heard at any great distance* This is the reason why it 

 always accompanies the louder voiced chickadees, their constantly reit- 

 erated u chick-a-dees," keep all the flock together just as cattle or sheep 

 follow the sound of a bell suspended from the neck of some older mem- 

 ber of the herd. 



The musical powers of the golden-crowned kinglet are not greats 

 even in its northern summer home ( it breeds in northern New England ), 

 its song is simple, consisting of a series of shrill chirps, terminating in a 

 lisping warble. 



The nest of the golden-crowned kinglet is a rather bulky structure 

 when compared with the size of the tiny architect. It is rather spherical 

 in form and is composed of moss and usually warmly lined with feath- 

 ers. The eggs are from five to nine in number, about a half an inch long. 

 white in color, spotted very finely with reddish brown. 



It may be well for those who are beginning to study birds, to remem- 

 ber that the closely allied ruby-crowned kinglet has never been known 

 to occur in New England in winter. It is a spring and fall migrant, 

 wintering in the extreme Southern States. The golden-crown winters 

 from southern Maine and New Hampshire to northern Florida, but it is 

 rare so far south as this, yet I have taken it there. Thus the wlntec 

 c-a-nge of both species overlaps a little in the south. 



