GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. 
127 
GOLDEN CRESTED WREN. — SYLVIA REGULUS. 
Plate VIII. Fig. 2. 
Motacilla Regulus, Linn. Syst. i. 338, 48. — Lath. Syn. iv. 508, 145. — JEdw. 254. 
— Peale's Museum, No. 7246. 
REGULUS REGULOIDES.* — Jardine. 
Regulus cristatus, Bonap. Synop. p. 91. — Female Golden-crowned Gold-crest, Cont. 
of A. A. Orn. i. pi. 2. p. 22 — Sylvia reguloides. Siv. MSS. 
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 
* The Gold-crests, the Common Wrens, with an immense and varied host of 
species, were associated together in the genus Sylvia , until ornithologists 
began to look, not to the external characters in a limited view only, but in 
connection with the habits and affinities which invariably connect species 
together. Then many divisions were formed, and among these subordinate 
groups, Regulus of Ray was proposed for this small but beautiful tribe. It 
was used by Stephens the continuator of Shaw’s Zoology , and by Bonaparte 
in his Synopsis of North American Birds , and the first volume of his elegant 
continuation of Wilson. Mr Swainson makes this genus the typical form of 
the whole Sylviance, but designates it on that account under the title Sylvia. 
I have retained the old name of Regulus, on account of its former use by 
Ray, also from its having been adopted to this form by Stephens and 
Bonaparte, and lastly, as liable to create less confusion than the bringing 
forward of an old name (though denoting the typical affinity of the typical 
group) which has been applied to so many different forms in the same 
family. 
Wilson was in error regarding the species here figured and the Common 
Gold-crest of Europe being identical, and Bonaparte has fallen into the same 
mistake when figuring the female. Regulus cristatus is exclusively European. 
Regulus reguloides appears yet exclusively North American. Upon comparing 
the two species minutely together, I find the following variations : — Length of 
R. reguloides three inches seven-eighths — of R. cristatus from three inches and a 
half to three inches six-eighths. In R. cristatus the bill is longer and more 
dilated at the base, and the under parts of the body are more tinged with olive, 
— in R. reguloides the orange part of the crest is much broader, and the black 
surrounding it, with the bar in front, broader and more distinct ; the white 
