414 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



kinglets were in the mountains they lived among the tops of the conif- 

 erous trees, especially white fir, lodgepole pine, red fir, and hemlock. 

 On June 14, 1925, a kinglet was watched as it foraged about the ends 

 of the branches close to the summit of a fir fully fifty meters tall." 



Courtship. — Howard L. Cogswell sends me the following note: 

 "In the spring, of course, the males often sing and display before the 

 females, but twice during the fall of 1942, late October and November, 

 I saw a male with red crest raised to its fullest extent over the top of 

 his head, posturing before a female and singing a somewhat wheezy 

 and subdued song, though of characteristic ruby-crown pattern." 



Nesting. — J. Stuart Kowley (1939) found three nests of the western 

 ruby-crowned kinglet in Mono County, Calif., of which he says: 



Around Virginia Lakes, the breeding range of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is 

 limited to lodgepole pine stands, above 8,500 feet elevation. Over the five seasons 

 of search for nests, only three were found. The first was some sixty feet up in a 

 lodgepole pine, well concealed in the needles. This nest, on July 7, 1927, con- 

 tained only one fresh egg although the female was flushed from the nest in midday. 

 A second nest was found the next day, containing six heavily-incubated eggs; it 

 was placed not more than twenty feet from the ground. The third nest found on 

 July 6, 1930, was about forty feet up in a lodgepole pine and contained seven 

 heavily-incubated eggs. 



Each was discovered by patiently watching and following females at feeding 

 time early in the morning or late in the evening. At each location, the male kept 

 a vigilant guard against intruding birds of other species, making furious darts at 

 casual passing robins, warblers, and the like. By locating a singing male, one 

 could assume that a nest was near, but to find it was another matter. 



All three nests were made of lichens and pieces of bark, tied together with 

 cobwebs. The linings were chiefly of feathers. The persistence of incubating 

 females in remaining on the nest is quite remarkable for such a shy nester. In 

 our experience, the females left the nest reluctantly, one remaining until I was a 

 foot or so from the nest. None of the three females flew farther away from their 

 nests than twenty feet when inspection was going on. 



Most other observers have reported nests in spruces, which proba- 

 bly are the trees most often chosen for nesting sites. Grinnell and 

 Storer (1924) mention a nest in an incense cedar, near the Sentinel 

 Hotel Annex in Yosemite Valley, Calif. 



Eggs. — The eggs of the western ruby-crowned kinglet are, apparent- 

 ly, indistinguishable in every way from those of the eastern race. 

 The measurements of 30 eggs in the United States National Museum 

 average 14.0 to 10.9 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes 

 measure 14.7 by 13.2, 12.7 by 11.4, and 14.2 by 10.2 millimeters. 



Food. — Professor Beal's (1907) report on the food of this species is 

 quoted under the eastern race, as it is the only comprehensive analysis 

 we have for the species; but, as it was based mainly on specimens 

 collected in California, it might just as well have been included here. 



