GOLDEN-CRESTED KINGLETS. 
375 
a large flock of very pretty little birds, the golden-crested king- 
lets, with greenish-yellow and brown bodies, a brilliant carmine 
spot on the head, encircled with a golden border, and then a 
black one. They are very small, decidedly less than the common 
wren, and only a size or two larger than the humming-bird. In 
this State they are rare birds. They are hardy little creatures, 
raising their young in the extreme northern parts of the continent, 
and are chiefly seen here as birds of passage, though remaining 
through the winter in Pennsylvania. They are indeed great trav- 
ellers, frequenting the West Indies during the winter months. It 
is the first time we have ever observed them here, although their 
kinsmen, the ruby-crowned kinglets, are very common with us, es- 
pecially in the spring months, when they linger late among our 
maple-blossoms. The flock about the house to-day was quite 
large, and they showed themselves several times in the course of 
the morning, flickering about the lilac and syringa bushes, and 
hanging on the leafless branches of the creeper ti'ained against 
the wall. 
They have a bird in Europe all but identical with ours, the 
difierence between the two varieties being so slight that for a long- 
time the best ornithologists were unaware of it. The European 
gold-crests winter in England and Germany ; in the last country 
they are very numerous, and although so diminutive, they are 
brought to market, being esteemed a great dainty ; about Nurem- 
burg, in Bavaria, they are particularly abundant, and so much 
prized for the table that they command a high price. When 
broiled their bodies can scarcely be as large as a French chestnut ! 
What should we think of a dish of humming-birds ? 
It is this little bird which is alluded to in Lafontaine's charming 
