BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
321 
Genus REGULUS Cuvier. 
Regulus satrapa Light. 
Golden-crowned Kinglet. 
Description {Plate 48 ). 
Length about 4 ; extent about 6.50 ; legs brownish-yellow ; feet yellowish ; bill 
black. Upper parts olive-green; wings and tail dusky, edged with yellowish; 
crown (adult male) bordered in front, also on sides, with black, embracing a central 
patch of fiery orange-red encircled by yellow. The female has no fiame-colored 
patch ; crown is entirely yellow, margined with black ; wing and tail-feathers edged 
with yellowish ; lower parts dull whitish. 
Female^ first plumage. — Pileum (including forehead) dark smoky-brown ; line 
over the eye entirely cut off’ at its anterior corner by the junction of the dusky lores 
with the brown of the forehead ; tertiaries broadly tipped with white ; breast 
strongly washed with pale brown color ; otherwise like adult. From a specimen in 
my collection taken at Upton, Me., August 25, 1874. A young male taken August 
25, 1873, is in every way similiar. A good series of specimens of various ages shot 
during August and the early part of September illustrate well the transitional 
stages. First the brown of the pileum darkens into two black stripes, while the line 
over the eye broadens to meet its external margin. Next, two lines of yellow feath- 
ers appear inside and parallel with the black ones, while the orange of the central 
space (of the male) is produced last” {Brewster^ Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, June, 1878, 
19). From Orn. of 111. 
Habitat . — North America generally, breeding in the northern and elevated parts 
of the United States and northward, migrating south in winter to Guatemala. 
Common winter resident from about the middle of October to the 
middle of April. This species is most numerous in October, November, 
March and April, or when mig-rating* south and north. The Golden- 
crowned Kinglet frequents the tops of tall forest trees as well as low 
bushes, and frequently, particularly when migrating in the spring and 
fall, is found, in company with the Ruby -crowned Kinglet {R. calendula), 
in apple orchards. Kinglets are generally seen in small flocks. They 
feed on various forms of insect life ; they are very expert in capturing 
small insects upon the wing, and destroy great numbers of plant-lice, 
spiders, flies, ants, besides devouring large numbers of insect eggs and 
larvae. 
Mr. Robert Ridgway {Ornithology of Illinois, p. 76) says-. “ The deli- 
cate little Golden-crowned Kinglet — smaller even than the Ruby-crown — ■ 
is known in Illinois, and, indeed, in all portions of the United States, 
except the northern coniferous woods and similar forests of the higher 
mountains, only as a winter visitant or ]*esident. He is most often seen 
during clear frosty mornings in midwinter, and seems particularly in his 
element when the trees are decked with an icy covering of sleet — when 
the woods appear like fairy land, and the pure crisp air instills fresh 
vigor to those who sally forth to enjoy its exhilarating influence. Then 
the little gold-crests may be seen in woods or parks in scattered troops, 
nimbly hunting among the crystal branches, now hanging, in titmouse 
21 Birds. 
