i888.] Brewster oti the Golden-crested Kinglet. 3'?Q 



The second nest was found June i6, when it was nearly com- 

 pleted, and taken June 29 with nine eggs, five of which were 

 fresh, the remaining four being slightly incubated. The locality 

 was a lonely glen on high land between two ridges. The ridges 

 were covei'ed with young white pines. The prevailing growth 

 in the glen was spruce and hemlock, the trees of large size and 

 standing so thickly together as to shut out nearly all sunlight 

 from the ground beneath. The nest was on the west side of a 

 sturdy, heavily limbed spruce {^A. nigra) about fifty feet above 

 the ground, twenty feet below the top of the tree, six feet out 

 from the trunk, and two and a half feet from the end of the 

 branch, in a dense cluster of stifi', radiating (not pendant) twigs, 

 the top of the nest being only an inch below, but the whole struc- 

 ture slightly on one side of the branch from which its supports 

 sprang. Above and on every side it was so perfectly concealed 

 by the dense flake-like masses of spruce foliage that it was im- 

 possible to see it from any direction except by parting the sur- 

 rounding twigs with the hand. From directly below, however, 

 a small portion of the bottom was visible, even from the ground. 

 The foliage immediately -over the top was particularly dense, 

 forming a canopy which must have been quite impervious to the 

 sun's rays, and a fairly good protection from rain also. Beneath 

 this canopy there was barely sufficient room for the birds to enter. 

 In general shape and construction this nest closely resembles the 

 one above described. It is, however, smaller, shallower, more 

 compact, rounder, and less irregular in outline, measuring as 

 follows: externally, greatest depth, 2.55; least depth, 2.45; 

 greatest diameter, 4 ; least diameter, 2.90 inches ; interior, diam- 

 eter at rim, 1.70 ; diameter midway, 1.75; depth, 1.40; greatest 

 thickness of walls, i .60 ; least, .75. I'he materials composing the 

 exterior are, similarly, green mosses and gray lichens, but the 

 lichens are much more sparingly used. The lining, as far as can 

 be seen without subjecting the nest to undue violence of handling, 

 is wholly of the downy under feathers of the Ruffed Grouse. 

 These are used so lavishly that, radiating inward from every 

 side, they nearly fill the interior and almost perfectly conceal its 

 contents. 



The third nest was also in a spruce which stood near the top 

 of a steep, picturesque hillside covered with noble old hemlocks 

 interspersed with a few rather stunted spruces, the ground be- 



