NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 425 



the first nest was found March 31, and contained four fresh eggs. Mr. 

 Atwater says that the birds occupy the nests during the winter months, 

 and the inside is made much warmer by the addition of feathers. The 

 birds are generally found nesting in the high, dry parts of the country, 

 away from tall timber, where the thorns are the thickest. 



From three to six eggs are deposited, of a bluish or greenish-white 

 or pale blue, speckled, chiefly round the larger end, with reddish- 

 brown. Their averave size is .59 x. 43. 



748. Regulus satrapa LIGHT. [33.] 



Golden-crowned Kinglet. 



Hab. Eastern and Northern North America as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Breeds in the 

 northern and elevated portions of United States northward ; wintering nearly throughout Eastern United 

 States southward to Northern Central America. 



Although a dainty little creature, the Golden-crowned Kinglet ap- 

 pears to be of a hardy nature, being found during the winter months 

 nearly throughout the Eastern States. Breeds from the northern por- 

 tions of the United States northward, moving south in the fall, return- 

 ing northward in spring, and retiring to its breeding grounds. It is 

 resident in Northern New England. 



Mr. H. D. Minot found a nest of this species containing young, in 

 the White Mountains of New Hampshire, July 16, 1876.* The 'late 

 Dr. T. M. Brewer describes a nest which doubtless belonged to this 

 bird, and which was found in the neighborhood of Bangor, Maine. It 

 contained ten eggs and was built in a fir tree, at an altitude of six feet. 

 It consisted of a large ball of green moss, about four and a half inches 

 in diameter. A nest was found by Dr. Northrup at Caribou, Maine, 

 containing an incomplete set (five eggs). It was placed partly pend- 

 ant from a horizontal branch of a small hemlock at the edge of a for- 

 est. Mr. Chas. H. Andros records a nest containing ten eggs, taken 

 "on or about June i," at Grand Manan, New Brunswick. This nest 

 was saddled on a spruce limb and was similar in shape to the nest of 

 the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, but much larger and deeper, and was ex- 

 ternally covered with green moss, cobwebs and lichens, internally 

 lined with soft down and sheep's wool, f 



By far the best account we have of the nidification of the Golden- 

 crested Kinglet is that recently given by Mr. William Brewster, who 

 found it nesting in a dense woods of mixed pines and spruce, on low, 

 rather swampy ground, in the neighborhood of Winchendon, Worces- 

 ter county, Mass. | With the assistance of Messrs. C. E. Bailey, S. W. 

 Denton and H. M. Spelman, three nests were secured, two with sets of 



* Minot's Land and Game Birds of New England, p. 56. 

 t Ornithologist and Oologist, XII, 203-204. 

 t The Auk, V, 337-344. 



