KINGLETS. 53 



a. Like calendula (^), except on the head. Crown, with 

 a yellow patch (inclosing in (J a scarlet one), bordered in 

 front and on the sides by a continuous black line. 



h. The nest of these birds had never, so far as I know, 

 been discovered by any naturalist, previously to this year 

 (1875). Wilson, indeed, thinking that the English " Gold- 

 crest " was identical with ours, which is not the case, quoted 

 a description of the nest and eggs of that bird from Dr. 

 Latham. '^^ I therefore have the honor of recording the discov- 

 ery * of the nest of the Golden-crowned " Wren," which I made 

 this summer (1875), on the sixteenth day of July, in a forest 

 of the White Moim tains, which consisted chiefly of ever- 

 greens and white birches. Having several times observed the 

 birds there, I at last detected them in the act of conveying 

 food to their young, and soon tracked them to their nest. This 

 hung four feet above the ground, from a spreading hemlock 

 bough, to the twigs of which it was firmly fastened ; it was 

 globular, with an entrance in the upper part, and was com- 

 posed of hanging moss, ornamented with bits of dead leaves, 

 and lined chiefly with feathers. It contained six young birds, 

 but much to my regret no eggs, f 



c. The Golden-crowned " Wrens " come to Massachusetts 

 from their summer homes in the latter part of October or in 

 November, and, though a majority of them move on to the 

 South, many pass the winter here, and continue their residence 

 in this State until April or even the second week of May. 

 During the winter they are for the most part gregarious, and 

 may often be seen in small flocks, moving about among trees ; 

 more often among those (such as birches) which spring up be- 

 side wood-paths than those growing elsewhere. But they also 

 visit cultivated lands and orchards, generally avoiding ever- 

 greens X (so far as I have observed), probably because they do 



32 American Ornithology, Vol. I, p. t The eggs of the Golden-crested 



127. Kinglet measure about .56 X .44 inches. 



* I have just learned, from the fourth They are creamy white, with exceed- 



number of the Nuttall Ornithological ingly numerous and fine markings of 



Club Bulletin, that the nests of this pale wood brown and a few larger 



Kinglet had been found previously to spots or blotches of brown or lavender, 



my discovery. [Appendix to first edi- — W. B. 



tion, p. 44.3.] J Mr. Minot's experience was cer- 



