262 THE WESTERN GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. 



(juenteu hv Bank Swallows. The original miner might ha\e heen a Swallmv. 

 but the Bluebirds had certainly enlarged the hole and rounded it. There were 

 no available trees for a mile or so around, but — well, realh' now, it did give one 

 a turn to see this bit of heaven quench itself in the ground — for love's sake. 



No. 103. 



WESTERN GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. 



A. O. I'. No. 748. Regulus satrapa olivaceiis Baird. 



Description. — Adult male: Crown-patch (partially concealed) bright orange 

 or flame-color (cadmium orange); a border of plain yellow feathers overlying 

 the orange on the sides ; these in turn bordered by black in front and on sides ; 

 extreme forehead white, connecting with white superciliary stripe ; a dark line 

 thru eye; above bright olive-green, becoming olive-gray on nape and siile of 

 head and neck ; wing-quills and tail-feathers much edged with light greenish 

 yellow, the former in such fashion as to throw into relief a dusky spot on middle 

 of secondaries ; greater coverts tipped with whitish ; underparts sordid white, 

 sometimes dusky-washed, or touched on sides with olivaceous. Adult female: 

 Similar, but with crown-patch jilain yellow instead of orange. IiiiiiiaUire: 

 Without crown-patch or bordering black, gradually acquiring these thru gradation 

 of color. Length about 4.00 (101.6); wing 2.16 (55); tail 1.57 (40); bill .29 

 ( 7.3 ) : tarsus fij (17). 



Recognition Marks. — Pygmy size ; orange, or yellow, and black of crown 

 distinctive. 



Nesting. — Nest: lashed to and largely concealed by drooping twigs on under 

 side of fir bough near tip, an exquisite ball of mosses, lichens, liverwort, fine grasses, 

 etc, ; bound together with cobwebs and lined with the softest materials, vegetable- 

 down, cow-hair, and feathers, 3^-^-7 inches in diameter, and placed from five feet 

 (//i. Bcigs: 7-g, rarely 10 (one of 11 on record), sometimes /;; ti^'o layers, dull 

 white, cream white, or sordid cream-color, finely sprinkled or not with pale wood- 

 brown or dull rufous, and sometimes, obscurely, with lavender. Av. size. .54 x .40 

 (13.7 X 10.2). Season: April i-July i; two broods. 



General Range. — Western North America from Rocky Mountains to the 

 Pacific Coast, southward in winter over highlands of Mexico to elevated districts 

 of Guatemala: breeding from Colorado (near timber-line), eastern Oregon 

 (mountains near Fort Klamath), Sierra Nevada (south to Mount Whitney), 

 Mount Shasta, etc., northward to Kenai Peninsula and Kadiak Island. Alaska. 



Range in Washington. — Common resident in coniferous timber (except 

 ])ine) thruout the State, sea-level to limit of trees, less common east of Cascades, 

 where numbers greatly augmented during migrations. 



Authorities.— fTozunseiid. Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VIII. 1839, 154 

 (Columbia River). Regulus satrapa. Licht. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 

 pt. II. 1858, p. 228 (part). (T.) C&S. L. Rh. D'. Kb. Ra. D-'. Kk. B. E. 



Specimens.— U. of \\'. P. Prov. B. E. 



