126 



GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 

 SYLVIA REGULUS. 

 [Plate VIII.— Fig. 2.] 



Motacilla regulus. Linn. Syst. I, 338, 48. — Lath. Syn. IV, 508, 145.— Edw. 254. — 



Pe ale's Museum, Ab. 7246. 



THIS diminutive species is a frequent associate of the one last 

 described, and seems to be almost a citizen of the world at large, 

 having been found not only in North and South America, the West 

 Indies and Europe, but even in Africa and India. The specimen 

 from Europe, in Mr. Peale's collection, appears to be in nothing 

 specifically different from the American ; and the very accurate de- 

 scription given of this bird by the count de Buffon agrees in every 

 respect with ours. Here, as in Europe, it is a bird of passage, 

 making its first appearance in Pennsylvania early in April, among 

 the blossoms of the maple, often accompanied by the Ruby-crown- 

 ed Wren, which, except in the markings of the head, it very much 

 resembles. It is very frequent among evergreens, such as the pine, 

 spruce, cedar, juniper, &c. and in the Fall is generally found in 

 company with the two species of Titmouse, Brown Creeper, and 

 small spotted Woodpecker. It is an active, unsuspicious and dili- 

 gent little creature, climbing and hanging, occasionally, among the 

 branches, and sometimes even on the body of the tree, in search of 

 the larvae of insects attached to the leaves and stems, and various 

 kinds of small flies, which it frequently seizes on wing. As it re- 

 tires still farther north to breed, it is seldom seen in Pennsylvania 

 from May to October; but is then numerous in orchards, feeding 

 among the leaves of the apple trees, which at that season are in- 

 fested with vast numbers of small black winged insects. Its chirp 



