EASTERN GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET 383 



in birds, which has lasted for over a half century. Since then many a 

 winter landscape in southern New England has been enlivened by the 

 cheery little groups of kinglets, wandering through our evergreen 

 woods, bravely facing winter's storms and cold, for it is only at that 

 season that we are likely to see them south of the Canadian Zone. 



The summer home is in the coniferous forests of the northern tier 

 of States and in the southern Provinces of Canada. Ora W. Knight 

 (1908) says that, in Maine, "pine, fir, spruce and hemlock woods, or 

 mixed growth in which these trees predominate are their preference." 

 Most observers say that they prefer the spruces. William Brewster 

 (1888) found them breeding in Winchendon, Mass., in dense woods 

 of white pine and spruce. Based on my limited experience, golden- 

 crowned kinglets seem to prefer the more open forests of more or less 

 scattered, second-growth spruces, rather than the dense forests of 

 mature growth. In these more open forests there are often a few 

 balsam firs or white birches scattered through the spruces, but the 

 presence of spruces seems to be necessary for nesting purposes. 



In the Adirondack Mountains of New York, according to Aretas A. 

 Saunders (1929a), this kinglet "lives in the coniferous forests, es- 

 pecially in the tops of tall spruces. Spruce, hemlock, balsam, and 

 tamarack all attract it, and it is seldom seen in summer in the hard- 

 woods, and then only where spruces are near. On the Avalanche 

 Pass Trail I found it in second growth spruce, where the trees were 

 dense but only ten or fifteen feet high." 



The golden-crowned kinglet is found in similar situations in the 

 mountains of western Massachusetts, in places where the spruces 

 have not been cut off. And Prof. Maurice Brooks writes to me: 

 "This is a permanent resident in the Appalachian spruce forests, the 

 most notable thing about it being its extraordinary abundance, espe- 

 cially late in summer. I recall one 10-day period spent in the Cheat 

 Mountains when it seemed that kinglets were around us during almost 

 every daylight minute. The spruce tops swarmed with them, parent 

 birds and young of the year. In the same area, during subzero Jan- 

 uary weather, the birds were still abundant, although I do not know 

 that the same individuals occurred." 



Referring to northern Minnesota, Dr. Thomas S. Roberts (1932) 

 says: "In nesting-time the Golden-crown makes its home in the dense 

 spruce and arbor vitae bogs so numerous in the northern woods." 



Spring. — As some golden-crowned kinglets spend the winter well 

 up toward the northern limits of their breeding range, the spring 

 migration is seldom conspicuous and is not easily traced. Robie W. 

 Tufts tells me that it is normally resident throughout the year near 

 Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and begins "nest-building with great regu- 

 larity about April 15th." But in some seasons it seems to be con- 



