SONG-BIRDS.
One of the finest bird eulogies in any language is Burroughs's chapter on this bird in "Wake Robin"; it has even a greater charm than Michelet's rhapsody on the Nightingale. One paragraph quoted will lead the reader to search out the whole.
"When Nature made the Bluebird she wished to propitiate both the sky and the earth, so she gave him the colour of one on his back and the hue of the other on his breast, and ordained that his appearance in spring should denote that the strife and war between these two elements was at an end. He is the peace-harbinger; in him the celestial and terrestrial strike hands and are fast friends."
FAMILYSYLVIIDÆE: WARBLERS, KINGLETS.
Golden-Crown Kinglet Regulus satrapa.
- Length:
- 4 inches.
- Male:
- Flame-coloured crown spot edged with yellow and enclosed by black line. Above olive-green and yellowish olive, which is more decided on wings, rump, and tail. Under parts yellowish gray. Whitish line over eye. Bill and feet black.}}
Female: Crown yellow, no flame colour or black line.
Song: A sharp call and a few notes. Mr. Brewster gives them as, — "Tzee-tzee-tzee-tzee, ti-ti-ter-ti-ti-ti-ti"
- Season:
- A fairly constant winter resident.
- Breeds:
- From northern New England northward.
- Nest:
- Bulky for the size of the bird. A ball of hair, moss, etc., often lined with feathers, placed on the high bough of an ever-green.
- Eggs:
- 6-10, white, thickly speckled
- Range:
- North America generally, migrating south in winter to Guate-
mala.
The dainty little Golden-crowned Kinglet shares with the Winter Wren and Hummingbird the distinction of being one of the three smallest birds in the United States. It is ranked as a winter resident, for, coming from the north with the Ruby crowned species, it lingers well into the winter,
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