RUBY-CROWNED RINGLET. 
1 69 
The Ruby-crowned Wren is found in Louisiana and other Southern 
States, from November until March. Near Charleston, in January, they* 
are sometimes very abundant. The old birds are easily distinguished 
from the young, without shooting them, on account of the curious differ- 
ence in their habits, for while the latter keep together among the lowest 
bushes, the former are generally seen on the top branches of high trees. I 
have not observed a similar difference in Regulus tricolor. The rich ver- 
milion spot on the head in the present species was wanting in the young, 
that part being of the same plain colour as the back. I have found this 
bird in Kentucky also during winter, but generally in southern exposures, 
» 
and usually in company with the Brown Creeper and the Titmouse. 
The little bird of which I speak appears to feed entirely on small insects 
and their larvae ; and I have often thought it wonderful that there should 
seem to be no lack of food for it even during weather sometimes too cold 
for the birds themselves. It appears to migrate during the day only, and 
merely by passing from one bush to another, or hopping among the twigs, 
until a large piece of water happens to come in its way, when it rises 
■9 
obliquely to the height of above twenty yards, and then proceeds horizon- 
tally in short undulations. It emits a feeble chirp at almost every 
motion. So swiftly, however, does it perform its migration from Louisi- 
ana to Newfoundland and Labrador, that although it sometimes remains 
in the first of these countries until late in March, it has young in the latter 
by the end of June ; and the brood is able to accompany the old birds 
back to the south in the beginning of August. 
The pair before you are placed on a plant which occurs in abundance 
from Maine to Labrador. 
Ruby-crowned Wren, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 83. 
Regulus Calendula, Bonap. Syn., p. 91. 
Ruby-crowned Wren, Sylvia Calendula, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 415. 
Ruby-crowned Regulus, Reyulus Calendula , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 546 
Adult Male, in summer plumage. 
Bill short, straight, subulate, very slender, compressed with inflected 
edges ; upper mandible nearly straight in its dorsal outline, theedges scarcely 
notched close upon the slightly declinate acute tip ; lower mandible straight, 
acute. Nostrils basal, elliptical, half-closed above by a membrane, covered 
over by the feathers. The whole form is slender, although the bird looks 
somewhat bulky, on account of the loose texture of the feathers. Legs 
rather long ; tarsus slender, longer than the middle toe, much compressed, 
covered anteriorly with a few indistinct scutella ; toes scutellate above, the 
