GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW 1355 



composed of sticks and moss, lined with grass, and placed about 

 2K feet from the ground." From the Atlin region Harry S. Swarth 

 (1926) describes his search for this species' nests at the summit of 

 Monarch Mountain at some 4,500 feet altitude June 19, 1924. After 

 a fruitless examination of the balsams, a nest was found in a mat 

 of birch. 



A ledge of rock protruded a few inches from the ground in the center of the 

 thicket, and the nest was sunk against this shelter, fairly well concealed by the 

 vegetation above. There were five eggs, incubated about one-half. Within a 

 few hundred yards a second nest was found in a similar situation, on the ground 

 under some trailing birch, with four eggs incubated as the first lot were. 



The first nest was built externally of gray plant fiber, a few balsam twigs, bits 

 of dried flakes of bark, and a very little green moss; the lining was of dry grass, 

 with several white ptarmigan feathers interwoven. External diameter, 120 mm.; 

 internal diameter, 65 mm.; outside depth, 55 mm.; inside depth, 35 mm. 



* * * Several hours after our first two discoveries, Brooks found a third nest, 

 this one in a low thicket of balsam, a thicket about twenty feet square but with 

 the sprawling branches rising not more than knee high above the ground. The 

 nest was in the branches, about ten inches up, and was much bulkier than those 

 on the ground. * * * The whole nest was about 180 mm. in diameter, and 

 90 mm. deep. The nest cavity was 76 mm. across. It contained four fresh 

 eggs. * * * 



On June 22 a fourth nest was found on the same mountain, in much the same 

 situation as the first two. 



On August 5 a nest was found on Spruce Mountain "containing 

 naked young, probably about a week old." 



Eggs. — The golden-crowned sparrow usually lays from 3 to 5 slightly 

 glossy eggs. They are ovate although some tend to elongate ovate. 

 The ground is creamy or pale bluish white and heavily speckled, 

 spotted, and blotched with reddish browns such as "natal brown," 

 "Verona brown," "Mars brown," "russet," or "chestnut." Some 

 eggs have a few undermarkings of "pale neutral gray." There is 

 considerable variation; often the bluish white ground color is entirely 

 obscured either with very fine speckles or large clouded blotches which 

 give it the appearance of being soft brown. These eggs are practically 

 indistinguishable from those of the white-crowned sparrow, except 

 that they average slightly larger. The measurements of 42 eggs 

 average 22.7 by 16.4 mm; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 

 24-0 by 16.7, 22.9 by 17.2, 21.2 by 16.3, and 21.5 by 1 5.2 millimeters — 

 WGFH 



Young. — Nothing is known of incubation in this species. Probably, 

 as in other Zonotrichias, it is by the female alone, but its duration has 

 never been determined. Ian McT. Cowan writes me in a letter that 

 a female nesting at Emigrants Peak, Jasper Park, on June 22, 1946 

 "stayed on the nest constantly and was repeatedly fed on the nest by 

 her mate. The feeding was accompanied by a begging display similar 



