116 
REGULUS CRISTATUS. 
Wilson’s short and imperfect account of the species. 
It is by no means more common at this time, than it 
was when he wrote ; which may account for the 
difficulty of ascertaining* the period of its migrations, 
and for the circumstance of our having never met 
with the nest, and our want of acquaintance with its 
habits. We can only add to its history, that it is found 
in the trans-Mississippian territory ; for the Sylvia 
bifasciata of Say, accurately described in Long’s first 
expedition, is no other than the male. We have ex- 
amined the specimen shot at Engineer Cantonment. 
Although the undisputed merit of first making known 
this species belongs to Wilson, yet the scientific name 
that he applied to it cannot he retained, inasmuch as it 
is pre-occupied by the blue-gray warbler, a Linnean 
species, which Wilson placed in Muscicapa, hut which 
we consider a Sylvia , notwithstanding that it does in 
some degree aberrate from the typical species of that 
genus.* Under such circumstances, we cannot hesitate 
in adopting the name substituted by Mr Stephens, the 
continuator of Shaw’s compilation. 
GENUS XII. —BEG ULUS, Vieillot. 
26 . REGULUS CRISTATUS , RAY. 
FEMALE GOLDEN-CROWNED GOLD-CREST. 
BONAPARTE, PLATE II. FIG. IV. 
Two distinct species of gold-crest have been, until 
lately, considered by naturalists as but one. Are they 
both inhabitants of this continent ? and, if not, which 
is the American species ? These questions cannot be 
readily answered, since we have nothing better than 
negative evidence to offer relative to the first. The 
present female, however, is decisive as to which of them 
inhabits this country. A slight inspection of this 
specimen leaves no doubt as to its being the female of 
* See my Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's 
Ornithology . 
