702 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



This is one of the most restless of our birds, tis well as one of the smallest, 

 and is sure to attract attention from its manner of flitting (piickly about 

 among the foliage, often hovering suspended in the air ^,h--=^ 



at the tip of a branch or beneath a pine cone, from Zi*ipL^\ 

 which it picks out some minute insect and then darts -«^, „,,@|^ \^^C 

 away to devour it. It is rarely seen during midsummer, VX-.^C^^^^' 

 in most parts of the state, but is abundant during the f, o>\^-^^*^^^^"^"' 

 spring and fall migrations and a considerable number 1 

 commonly linger through the entire winter in regions Fjfr. 150. ooi den- 

 where evergreens are fairly abundant. We have never From" HoSinn^s 

 known a winter when this species was not present on Gu^e. Houghton, 

 the campus of the Agricultural College, and sometimes ^' '" ^-^^' 

 a half dozen or more may be found in company with chickadees, nut- 

 hatches and w^oodpeckers. 



We have never heard it sing, but it has a high, almost piercing call of 

 four or five notes which it utters very frequently, and which is characteristic, 

 but difficult to describe. Owing to its presence all winter in favorable 

 localities the exact date of spring arrival is difficult to determine, but 

 there is a marked increase in numbers about the first of April, and some- 

 times for a few days the birds are present in companies of twenty or thirty, 

 though never in compact flocks. Mr. B. H. Swales says: "March and 

 April are the months of its greatest abundance near Detroit and it seldom 

 remains later than May third." He also states that it arrives from the 

 north late in September, remaining until November first, and that it is 

 a irregular winter resident. A specimen was killed on Spectacle Reef 

 Light, Lake Huron, April 12, 1890, and specimens were killed on the same 

 light October 1, 1890, October 2, 1887, October 5, 1889 and October 5 

 and 6, 1890; one was killed on Big Sable Light, Lake Superior, October 

 1, 1894. 



The Golden-crowned Kinglet is a summer resident in a considerable 

 part of northern Michigan, but apparently is nowhere abundant at that 

 season. S. E. White states that at Mackinac Island it was "a common 

 summer resident among the evergreens" in 1889, 1890 and 1891; and the 

 University of Michigan expedition found it common in the forests of the 

 Porcupine Mountains, Ontonagon county, in the summer of 1904. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. N. A. Wood "young in the down were taken July 2, 1904, and 

 it was abundant among the hemlocks in flocks, both young and adults, 

 from July 13 to August 12. It has been reported as not uncommon during 

 the nesting season in several places in the Upper Peninsula, and there can 

 be little doubt that it nests in favorable places not only in the Upper 

 Peninsula but in the higher parts of the Lower Peninsula, wherever pines, 

 spruces and hemlocks are abundant. 



Our only actual records of nesting however are those secured by the 

 University of Michigan Expedition to Isle Royale, in 1905. Mr. Max 

 M. Peet records the observations as follows: "Very common throughout 

 the island, usually in small flocks of 15 to 20. They were never shy and 

 their song was one of the most common sounds of the forest. July 6 a 

 pair was seen with food in their mouths and gave every indication that 

 they had young near. July 7 a pair Avas seen building a nest in a tall 

 spruce. The birds were gathering the moss from the ground for nesting 

 material. The nest was placed about twenty-five feet from the ground 

 and was composed of green mosses partially lined with a white down-like 

 substance. The site chosen was near the top of a small rocky hill where 



