If a sharp lookout be kept for these ruby-crowned migrants, that too often slip away to the south before we know they have come, we notice that they appear about a fortnight ahead of the golden-crested species, since the mild, soft air of our Indian summer is exactly to their liking. At this season there is nothing in the bird's "thin, metallic call-note, like a vibrating wire," to indicate that he is one of our finest songsters. But listen for him during the spring migration, when a love-song is already ripening in his tiny throat. What a volume of rich, lyrical melody pours from the Norway spruce, where the little musician is simply practising to perfect the richer, fuller song that he sings to his nesting mate in the far north! The volume is really tremendous, coming from so tiny a throat. Those who have heard it in northern Canada describe it as a flute-like and mellow warble full of intricate phrases past the imitating. Dr. Coues says of it: "The kinglet's exquisite vocalization defies description."
Curiously enough, the nest of this bird, that is not at all rare, has been discovered only six times. It would appear to be over-large for the tiny bird, until we remember that kinglets are wont to have a numerous progeny in their pensile, globular home. It is made of light, flimsy material--moss, strips of bark, and plant-fibre well knit together and closely lined with feathers, which must be a grateful addition to the babies, where they are reared in evergreens in cold, northern woods.
_Called also_: GOLDEN-CROWNED GOLDCREST; FIERY-CROWNED WREN
_Length_--4 to 4.25 inches. About two inches smaller than the English sparrow.
_Male_--Upper parts grayish olive-green; wings and tail dusky, margined with olive-green. Underneath soiled whitish. Centre of crown bright orange, bordered by yellow and enclosed by black line. Cheeks gray; a whitish line over the eye.
_Female_--Similar, but centre of crown lemon-yellow and more grayish underneath.
_Range_--North America generally. Breeds from northern United States northward. Winters chiefly from North Carolina to Central America, but many remain north all the year.
_Migrations_--September. April. Chiefly a winter resident south of Canada.