DALMATIAN TtEGULTJS.
Rtguhu modulus, GOULD.
Rtgulus—A diminutive of Rex—a king. Modestus—Modest—sober.
INDIA, it appears, is the native place and home of the present
species.
The Baron Do Feldogg, of Frankfort, shot one specimen of this bird
in Dalmatia, in the year 1829, the first on record; and the only other
that has as yet been met with in Europe was killed by Mr. John
Hancock, of Xewcastle-upon-Tync, in the county of Northumberland,
near Hartley, on the sea coast, on the 26th. of September, 1838. These
are the only two, ' p a r nobile,' of these Kinglets that have yet been
discovered in our continent, and none have been known anywhere else.
Such was the case when the first edition of this work was published,
but since then I have been informed by Mr. Henry George Scott, of
St. John's Parsonage, Wakefield, that in the autumn of 1861? he saw
about a dozen pairs of them near Kurrachee, in Scinde.
In its habits it resembles the other species of the genus, being
perpetually in motion in search of food. Mr. Scott, however, observes
that they are not so livelv as the others.
I t feeds on insects.
The nest is of slighter construction than that of the Goldcrest,
sparingly lined with feathers, and a few spiders' egg-bags on the
outside.
The egg is pale greenish white, mottled over with reddish brown,
and very much so round and about the larger end. Mr. Scott most
kindly gave me a specimen for my collection.
Male; length, barely over four inches; bill, brown, the under mandible
paler at the base, from which a light lemon-coloured streak extends
over the eye to the back of the head, and another short similar streak
beneath the eye, through which a narrow band of dusky passes. Head
on the crown, greenish yellow, the centre with a streak of paler; neck
VOL. in. 2 G