Excerpt from Everyday Birds: Elementary Studies

California vulture, or condor, which measures from tip to tip of its wings nine feet and a half. At the other end of the scale are the humming birds, one kind of which, at least, has wings that are less than an inch and a half in length. Next to these insect-like midgets come the birds which have been well named in Latin Regulus, and in English kinglets, - that is to say, little kings. The fitness of the title comes first from their tiny size, the Chickadee is almost a giant in comparison, - and next from the fact that they wear patches of bright color (crowns) on their heads.

Two species of kinglets are found at one season or another in nearly all parts of the United States, and are known respectively as the golden crown or goldcrest and the ruby-crown.

The golden-crown has on the top of its head an orange or yellow patch (sometimes one, some times the other) bordered with black, the ruby crown wears a very bright red patch, though you may look at many specimens without finding it. Only part of the birds have it, the adult males, perhaps, - and even those that have it do not always display it. The orange or yellow of the goldcrest, on the other hand, is worn by all the birds, and is never concealed. If you are a be ginner in bird study, uncertain of your species, look for the black stripes on the crown. If they are not there, and the bird is really a kinglet, it must be a ruby-crown. You may know it, also, from the goldcrest, I mean, by what looks like a light-colored ring round the eye. In fact, one of the ruby-crown's most noticeable peculiarities is a certain bareheaded, large-eyed appearance.

Unless your home is near or beyond the northern boundary of the United States, you need not look for either kinglet in summer. The ruby-crown is to be seen during its migra tions in spring and fall, the goldcrest in fall, winter, and spring.

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