182 FEMALE GOLDEN-CROWNED GOLD-CREST. 
capillus beyond the possibility of doubt, whilst those of Wilson 
are intended for the cvistatus. 
This statement of Wilson, joined to the testimony of Vieil- 
lot, would have led us to believe the zgnzcapillus to be an 
American bird, if Wilson’s plate, and more especially his de- 
scription, as well as the inspection of the very individual he 
delineated, and a hundred others, had not confirmed our own 
belief. It may, however, be considered extraordinary that so 
diminutive a being should extend its range so widely as to 
participate equally in the bounties of two continents, and that 
another, so closely allied to it as to be generally mistaken for 
a mere variety, should be limited in its wanderings by the 
boundaries of but one. 
That the reader may be assured of the specific difference 
between these two birds, I add a short comparative description. 
The Regulus cristatus has the bill very feeble, and quite suba- 
late, whilst that of the zgnicapillus is also subulate, but is 
wider at base. The cheeks of the former are pure cinereous, 
without any white lines, having only a single blackish one 
through the eye ; those of the latter, in addition to the black 
line through the eye, have a pure white one above and another 
below, whence Temminck calls it Loztelet triple bandeau. 
he English name also may be derived from this character, 
or the bird may rather be called fire-crowned gold-crest, from 
its Latin name. The crest of the male golden-crowned gold- 
crest is yellowish orange, that of the fire-crowned is of the most 
vivid orange; but the most obvious difference is between the 
females, that of the golden-crowned having a lemon yellow 
crest, which in the female of its congener is orange, like that 
of the male, only much less vivid. The cheek-bands of the 
female fire-crowned are by no means so obvious as in its mate ; 
thus the female of this species resembles the male golden- 
crowned, than which the colours of its crest are not less bril- 
liant. If to these traits we add that the latter is a little 
larger, we shall complete the enumeration of their differences. 
The two species are also somewhat distinguished by their 

