EASTERN RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET 403 



became agitated, even at a distance of 100 yards. I found the bird to 

 act in this manner near another nest, which contained nine incubated 

 eggs. On numerous occasions I have observed the male to act in 

 this manner and believe that it is a regular nesting characteristic. 

 The nest found June 10 was a perfect example of the utmost in bird 

 architecture, a compact structure of moss, lined thickly with rabbit 

 fur and feathers, and, although globular in shape, was in no way semi- 

 pensile, but really a deep, cup-shaped structure. All the nests I have 

 seen have been placed near the top clump of needles, straddled on 

 small branches adjoining the trunk and exceptionally well concealed 

 from the ground." 



Most descriptions of nests give the impression (and what few nests 

 I have seen confirm it) that they are made mainly of green mosses, 

 such as Cladonia, Hypnum, and Parmelia, gathered from fallen logs 

 and trees, mixed with the long, green tree-lichen, Usnea longissima. 

 But careful studies of nests have shown that much other material 

 is often, if not regularly, used. Mr. Weydemeyer (1923), for example 

 gives the following good description of a nest in Montana: 



In color, the nest looked much like the surrounding spruce foliage. In general 

 appearance, it resembled an elongated Wright Flycatcher's nest constricted at 

 the top. The cup was between four and four and one-half inches deep, and two 

 and one-half inches wide at the center, narrowing toward the top to form a circular 

 opening not more than an inch and a quarter in diameter. 



* * * Thistle down, cotton from the catkins of the aspen, and small feathers 

 made up a large part of the body of the nest. The outside was thickly covered 

 with finely shredded inner bark of aspen, a few blades of dry grass, and ground 

 and tree mosses, with a surface covering of grayish lichens and a few small 

 spruce twigs. 



The interior of the nest was thickly lined with feathers. The sides were covered 

 with body feathers of the Canadian Ruffed Grouse, arranged with the points of 

 the quills down and covered by the tips of the feathers below. The tips of the 

 uppermost feathers curved slightly inward just below the opening of the nest. At 

 the bottom was a thick covering of breast feathers of the female mallard. 



With the exception of the feathers forming the inner lining, the various materials 

 composing the nest were strongly bound together by an intricate and extensive 

 network of extremely fine fibers from insect cocoons. The coarser material on the 

 outside of the nest was also held together by stiff porcupine hairs, while the bottom 

 was further strengthened with several long horsehairs. Thus, though the nest 

 was unusually soft and quite yielding to the touch, it was nevertheless strongly 

 held in shape. 



The nests are almost always pensile, or semipensile, and usually 

 partly attached to surrounding twigs. They are generally roughly 

 globular in shape, though somewhat flattened on the top, measuring 

 3 or 4 inches in both height and diameter, but sometimes elongated 

 downward to 5 or 6 inches. The opening above seems to vary from 

 1% to 2 inches in diameter; the internal depth varies from 1% to 3 or 4 



