THE PLAINS AND COLORADO 123 



homes." — The Country^ Vol. 2, No. 8, June 15, 1878. From 

 contributed article by William E. D. Scott. 



An incident of my collecting at Twin Lakes 

 was the discovery of the first known nest of the 

 ruby-crowned kinglet. Until now the method 

 of breeding of this bird had been more or less 

 a matter of conjecture, and the eggs had not 

 been seen. From the paper cited in the appen- 

 dix, I quote the following notes with regard to 

 this little kinglet, and a description of the nest 

 made at the time. 



"One of the most common song-birds, and heard every- 

 where. On the 20th of June I saw a female fly to a pine tree 

 with material in her bill for building a nest. On looking T 

 found a nest nearly finished. On the 25th of June I took this 

 nest with five fresh eggs, and the female showed signs of hav- 

 ing incubated. I think no more eggs would have been laid. 

 The nest is before me as I write, and presents the following 

 peculiarities : It is semipensile, being suspended to the leaves 

 of the pine, and to one small branch, much like the red-eyed 

 vireo's nest. It is very large in proportion to the builder, and 

 is made of the bark of sage-brush and oi green moss very firmly 

 twisted together, and forming a soft outer wall of from half to 

 a full inch in thickness. This is lined with feathers and hair. 

 The whole nest is very soft, and has the following dimensions : 

 Four inches deep outside, three inches deep inside, three inches 

 in diameter outside, and two inches at the top inside, but nar- 

 rowing to an inch and a half at the bottom. On the outside 

 it is as wide at the bottom as at the top, being in this respect 

 like a Baltimore oriole's. It was placed at the very outermost 

 twigs and leaves of the tree, about twelve feet from the ground. 

 The eggs are five in number, of a dirty white color, faintly 



