FEMALE GOLDEN-CROWNED GOLD-CREST. 117 
t Regulus cristatus ; and, should the Regulus igni - 
capillus, contrary to our expectations, also prove to be 
an inhabitant of this country, it will be described along 
with its mate, in another volume of this work. All the 
ornithologists state, that the latter is a native of this 
continent, whilst they take no notice whatever of the 
Regulus cristatus , which, if not the only indigenous, is 
certainly the more common species. This error seems 
to have originated with Vieillot, who, considering the 
two species as but one, probably was not careful in 
selecting the individual from which his drawing was 
made ; he may, therefore, have chosen an European 
bird, and unluckily of the other species, as both are 
found in Europe. 
However this may be, his figure is certainly that of 
the Ignicapittus ; and, it is equally obvious, that his 
short description of the female can only apply to the 
female of the Cristatus , which corroborates my opinion. 
In the ( French ) New Dictionary of Natural History , 
Vieillot distinguishes two varieties of Regulus cristatus , 
and again describes the Ignicapillus as the one he saw 
in America. If this observation could be replied upon, 
we should admit that both species are inhabitants of 
this country, although the present, which must be by 
far the most numerous, is certainly not the Ignicapillus . 
I agree with Ray, Vieillot, and other authors, and 
dissent from Linne, Latham, Wilson, and Temminck, 
respecting the propriety of placing these birds in a 
separate genus from Sylvia , and I have therefore 
changed the generic name adopted by Wilson. This 
genus forms a link intermediate to the genera Sylvia 
and Parus . It is small both in the number and size 
of its species, consisting of the two smallest of the 
European birds, one of which is the subject of this 
article ; an American species, the ruby-crowned gold- 
crest ( Regulus calendulus ,) so well described by Wilson ; 
and a fourth from Asia. 
The most obvious characters that distinguish the 
genus Regulus from Sylvia are, the hill remarkably 
