Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, volume 1.djvu/316



named this pretty and rare species after, not merely by way of acknowledgment for the kind attentions which I have received at the hands of that deservedly celebrated naturalist, but more as a homage due by every student of nature to one at present unrivalled in the knowledge of General Zoology. I shot the bird represented in the Plate, on my father-in-law's plantation of Fatland Ford, on the Skuylkill River in Pennsylvania, on the 8th June 1812, while on a visit to my honoured relative Mr. The drawing which I then made I have kept to this date, without having described the bird from which it was taken. I killed this little bird, supposing it to be one of its relatives, the Ruby-crested Wren, whilst it was searching for insects and larvæ amongst the leaves and blossoms of the Kalmia latifolia, on a branch of which you see it represented, and was not aware of its being a different bird until I picked it up from the ground. I have not seen another since, nor have I been able to learn that this species has been observed by any other individual. It might, however, be very easily mistaken for the Ruby-crowned Wren, the manners of which appear to be much the same. My excellent friend, to whom also I shewed my drawing of this bird in London, proposed naming it Regulus Carbunculus; and I should probably have introduced it to you, kind reader, under that appellation, had I not changed it for that of Regulus Cuvierii, on my fortunately becoming acquainted with the highly celebrated and equally kind Secretary of the Royal Institute of France.

The Kalmia latifolia grows in great profusion in the State of Pennsylvania, and along the range of the Alleghanies, in all rocky and hilly situations.

Plate LV. Male.