428 NESTS AND EGGS OK 



birds common about Fort Klamath, Oregon, apparently placing their 

 nests in dense firs. Mr. Montague Chamberlain records a nest which 

 was taken at Lennoxville, Quebec, May 15, 1882. This was pensile, 

 and was attached to the branch of a small tree. It contained nine 

 e gg s > ne f them a Cowbird's. 



The nests of the Ruby-crown vary somewhat in their general 

 style of structure and in composition. They are usually semi-pensile, 

 neatly and well made with soft, thick walls, composed of moss, fine 

 strips of bark, and well lined with feathers of various birds, which 

 are woven into the sides and bottom of the structure. 



The eggs are five to nine in number, and are dull whitish or pale 

 bufiy, faintly speckled or spotted with light brown, chiefly at the larger 

 ends. Their average size is .55 x .43. Some of the eggs of this bird are 

 said to be nearly plain. 



750. Regulus obscurus RIDGW. [31.] 



Dusky Kinglet. 



Hab. Guadalupe Island, Lower California. 



Mr. Walter E. Bryant found the Dusky Kinglet frequenting more 

 numerously the large cypress grove on Guadalupe Island ; they were 

 also found in the smaller groves and among the pines. As early 

 as the middle of February, nest-building was in order, the birds select- 

 ing the topmost foliage of a cypress, and sometimes the very outer ex- 

 tremity of a horizontal branch. After many days' diligent search, 

 three nests were observed, and these were detected by watching the 

 birds collect building material, or by tracing to its source a peculiar, 

 low song which the male sometimes sings when close to the nest. 

 These nests were all found over twenty feet high, and only one could 

 be seen from the ground, and that merely during the intervals when 

 the wind parted the branches. They were placed in the midst of a 

 thick bunch of foliage and but lightly secured to the twigs. Compact, 

 though not very smooth in structure, they were composed of soft bark- 

 strips intermingled with feathers, bits of moss, fine grass and cocoons. 

 Additional warmth is secured by a quantity either of goat's hair or 

 feathers, and, lastly, a thin lining of goat's hair. Their external meas- 

 urement is about 70 mm. in height by 90 mm. in diameter, while the 

 internal depth is about 45 mm., and diameter 35 to 45 mm. * 



A nest containing two fresh eggs was found March 24, in the 

 top of a slender cypress twenty-five feet high. It could not be seen 

 from the ground, but was located by the subdued song of the male 

 bird. In color the eggs are white, with a dense wreath of pale yellow- 



* External height about 2.76, diameter 3.54; internal depth 1.77, and diameter 1.38 to 1.77. 



