588 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



when its relative, the Ruby-crown, is such an elaborate and impressive 

 singer. 



There is considerable similarity between the notes of the Golden- 

 crowned Kinglet and the Sierra Creeper. The kinglet's song is longer 

 and the notes in the middle of it are run together more rapidly than are 

 those in the creeper's song. In the winter months the Golden-crown 

 usually utters several notes at a time, whereas the creeper gives at that 

 season only a single or a two-part call. There are differences in timbre, 

 but these can be learned only by following up individual birds of the 

 two species under conditions which allow of comparison. 



Mid-May finds the Golden-crowned Kinglets busy with nest building, 

 and by June the parents are carrying food for the young. The latter 

 appear abroad by July if not earlier. At Hazel Green on May 14, 1919, 

 an adult bird (sex not ascertained) was seen about some small Douglas 

 spruces carrying white downy material in the bill. The bird made off 

 through two small white firs and thence into a large sugar pine, where, 

 ascending to a height of 60 feet or more, it disappeared on an outswaying 

 branch into a dark mass which looked like mistletoe. 



In Yosemite Valley on May 18, 1919, a pair of Golden-crowned King- 

 lets was seen displaying considerable anxiety over the presence in a certain 

 yellow pine near Stoneman Bridge of a Blue-fronted Jay. The kinglets 

 were heard about the tree on several subsequent days, and finally on 

 May 23 it was seen that they were actively engaged in nest construction. 

 The site was about 25 feet above the ground and in a thick bunch of 

 needles near the end of an almost horizontal branch about 8 feet long. 

 The exact location was ascertained by watching the female as she carried 

 a tuft of white cottony material directly to the site in a bee line through 

 two adjacent trees. Several installments were brought in quick succes- 

 sion. Once the bird had procured a downy feather which she placed 

 in the nest; but the wind took it away, whereupon she launched into the 

 air and retrieved the feather, to replace it more securely in the nest. 

 Only the female in this case seemed to be carrying material. The nest 

 was, on this date (May 23), only well started, as the light of the sky 

 could be seen through all parts of it by the observer stationed on the 

 ground. 



On June 12, 1915, Mrs. Joseph Grinnell saw a Golden-crowned Kinglet 

 in a yellow pine near the old Presidio. The bird had its bill filled with 

 insects and was evidently engaged in feeding a brood. Later in the same 

 season, on July 24, one of our party found a kinglet nest in the same 

 neighborhood, presumably the one used by this bird, 30 feet above the 

 ground in a yellow pine. Upon being brought to hand the nest was found 

 to have been torn open by some bird or mammal. In the substance of the 



