616 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



eggs in late May as I have seen young Kinglets not more than 

 two days out of the nest and barely able to fly as early as June 

 twentieth. Eight to ten eggs are laid, and these are a muddy 

 or creamy white, blotched, speckled or washed with wood brown 

 and less often with pale lavender. The average measurement 

 is about 0.56 x 0.45. 



That the birds are very touchy about having their home life 

 studied into I can vouch for, as several nests I have found were 

 deserted before eggs were laid in them. Nests found the first 

 week in June which were climbed to a week later to observe 

 details of construction were deserted, and nests which were left 

 three weeks after they were found in order to insure their hav- 

 ing full complements of eggs were visited even as late as June 

 twentieth and found not to be quite ready for eggs and were 

 never laid in. I can therefore put in the following "don'ts," 

 which are vouched for in the light of sad experience. Don*'t 

 climb to a Golden-crowned Kinglet's nest until at least two, 

 better three weeks after you have discovered the birds building 

 it, or don't climb to it until at least fourteen days after you 

 know the birds have ceased to work on it. Don't climb to a 

 Ruby-crowned Kinglet's nest without observing all the precau- 

 tions given above. They are more particular than the Winter 

 Wren about their nests and will desert them on the least sus- 

 picion that they have been looked at by a human being from 

 the limbs of the tree in which the nests are, while the Winter 

 Wren, as a rule, doesn't desert a nest unless it has actually 

 been touched. An average Golden-crowned Kinglet's nest 

 measures four inches in outside diameter, one and three-quar- 

 ters inside diameter, three inches in depth outside and two 

 inside. 



749. Regulus calendula (Linn.). Ruby-crowned Kinglet. 



Plumage of adult male : crown, with bright ruby red spot or crest which 

 is more or less concealed ; above grayish olive green, brightest on the rump 

 and on the edgings of the wings and tail ; wings and tail clove brown ; wing 

 coverts and tertiaries tipped with whitish or huffish ; under parts olive buff. 



