AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
61 
them, and that ships have sometimes been in imminent 
peril, in consequence of mistaking them for terra-firma. 
It is highly interesting to trace, in imagination, the ef- 
fects of the passage of these rafts from the mouth of a large 
river to some archipelago, such as those in the South Paci- 
fic, raised from the deep in comparatively modern times, 
by the operations of the volcano and the earthquake, and 
the joint labours of coral animals and testacea. If a storm 
arise, and the frail vessel be wrecked, still many a bird and 
insect may succeed in gaining, by flight, some island of 
the newly-formed group, while the seeds and berries of 
herbs and shrubs, which fall into the waves, may be thrown 
upon the strand. But if the surface of the deep be calm, 
and the rafts are carried along by a current, or wafted by 
some slight breath of air fanning the foliage of the green 
trees, it may arrive, after a passage of several weeks, at 
the bay of an island, into which its plants and animals may 
be poured out as from an ark, and thus a colony of several 
hundred new species may at once be naturalized. 
We may remind the reader, that we merely advert to 
the transportation of these rafts as of extremely rare and 
accidental occurrence; but it may account, in tropical 
countries, for some of the rare exceptions to the general 
law, of the confined range of species. — Ly ell’s Geology. 
RUBY-CROWNED WREN. 
SYLVIA CALENDULA. 
[Plate VI. Vol. 2. Reduced to half size.] 
Le Eoitelet Rubis, Buff. v. 373. — Edw. 254. — Lath. 
Syn. ii. 511. — Arct. Zool. 320. — Regulus cristatus 
alter vertice rubini colons, Bartram, p. 292. — Mota- 
cilla calendula , Linn. i. p. 337. — Gmel. Syst. i. p. 
994. — Sylvia calendula , Lath. hid. Orn. p. 549. — 
Regulus rubineus, Vieillot, Ois. de I Am. Sept. pi. 
104. — J. Doughty’s Collection. 
This little bird visits us early in the spring from the 
south, and is generally first found among the maple blos- 
soms, about the beginning of April. These failing, it has 
recourse to those of the peach, apple, and other fruit trees, 
partly for the tops of the sweet and slender stamina of the 
flowers, and partly for the winged insects that hover among 
them. In the middle of summer I have rarely met with 
these birds in Pennsylvania, and as they penetrate as far 
north as the country round Hudson’s Bay, and also breed 
there, it accounts for their late arrival here in fall. They 
then associate with the different species of Titmouse, and 
Q 
the Golden-crested Wren; and are particularly numerous 
in the month of October and beginning of November, in 
orchards, among the decaying leaves of the apple trees, 
that at that season are infested with great numbers of small, 
black winged insects, among which they make great havoc. 
I have often regretted the painful necessity one is under of 
taking away the lives of such inoffensive and useful little 
creatures, merely to obtain a more perfect knowledge of 
the species, for they appear so busy, so active, and unsuspect- 
ing, as to continue searching about the same twig, even 
after their companions have been shot down beside them. 
They are more remarkably so in autumn ; which may be 
owing to the great number of young and inexperienced 
birds which are then among them; and frequently at this 
season I have stood under the tree, motionless, to observe 
them, while they gleaned among the low branches, some- 
times within a foot or two of my head. They are extremely 
adroit in catching their prey; have only at times a feeble 
chirp; visit the tops of the tallest trees, as well as the low- 
est bushes; and continue generally for a considerable time 
among the branches of the same tree, darting about from 
place to place; appearing, when on the top of a high ma- 
ple, no bigger than humble-bees. 
The Ruby-crowned Wren is four inches long, and six in 
extent; the upper parts of the head, neck and back, are of 
a fine greenish-olive, with a considerable tinge of yellow; 
wings and tail, dusky purplish-brown, exteriorly edged 
with yellow olive; secondaries and first row of wing-coverts 
edged and tipt with white, with a spot of deep purplish-brown 
across the secondaries, just below their coverts; the hind 
head is ornamented with an oblong lateral spot of Vermil- 
lion, usually almost hid by the other plumage; round the 
eye a ring of yellowish-white; whole under parts of the 
same tint; legs dark brown; feet and claws yellow; bill 
slender, straight, not notched, furnished with a few black 
hairs at the base; inside of the mouth orange. The female 
differs very little in its plumage from the male, the colours 
being less lively, and the bird somewhat less. Notwith- 
standing my utmost endeavours, I have never been able to 
discover their nest; though, from the circumstance of hav- 
ing found them sometimes here in summer, I am persuaded 
that they occasionally breed in Pennsylvania; but I know 
several birds, no larger than this, that usually build on the 
extremities of the tallest trees in the woods; which I have 
discovered from their beginning before the leaves are out; 
many others, no doubt, choose similar situations; and 
should they delay building until the woods are thickened 
with leaves, it is no easy matter to discover them. In fall 
they are so extremely fat, as almost to dissolve between the 
fingers as you open them; owing to the great abundance of 
their favourite insects at that time. — Wilson. 
