72 



Thz Canadian Field-Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXIV. 



NESTING OF THE RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET AT GUELPH. ONTARIO. 



By J. Dewey Soper. 



A very pleasing situation, both unique and rare 

 in the history of Ontario birds has befallen the 

 lot of the O.A.C. campus at Guelph, Ontario. 

 That this happens to be the favored locality for the 

 nesting of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, (the absorb- 

 ing topic in question) will be received by local 

 bird students, I am assured, with a certain satis- 

 faction. So far as a careful search of literature on 

 the subject is concerned, it seems that this is the 

 first authentic record for the species in the southern 

 portion of the province. The Ruby-crown, a bird 

 typical of northern forests, pursues its role of nidi- 

 fication usually far beyond the pale of civilization, 

 where even there to find a nest would be a marked 

 event to any ornithological enthusiast. Consider 

 now, the singular opportunity of studying the home 

 life of these sprightly northerners on the college 

 campus of the O.A.C, at Guelph. Granted, this 

 seems to tax credulity, but we have the indubitable 

 evidence to cheer a bird lover on his way. 



Before proceeding further it gives me pleasure, 

 in relation to the discovery of this nest, to announce 

 Prof. Crow of that institution as the recipient for 

 full honors. Some time after the rearguard of the 

 Ringlet migration had passed on north, his attention 

 was attracted to the singing of a Ruby-crown for 

 several days in a clump of spruces opposite the 

 museum. Shortly the singing ceased here but was 

 later detected again in the spruces a few hundred 

 yards to the north. At this time the nest was dis- 

 covered with both birds in attendance and is be- 

 lieved to be the same as earlier noted near the 

 museum. Evidently they had been loitering about 

 the college grounds all spring. 



In attempting to frame an analogical reason for 

 this exceptional occurence in relation to the spring 

 migration I was about to describe the latter in point 

 of numbers as one above the average. In fact it 

 appealed to me as an unusual one. It is possible, 

 however, that this impression is merely relative, be- 

 cause of my removal from a point twelve miles west, 

 where during the spring and summer of five years I 

 was accustomed to take notes, and where as fruit- 

 ful a line of migration does not obtain perhaps as 

 up the valley of the Speed, via Guelph. However 

 true this conjecture may be, there assuredly was no 

 dearth of Ringlets during the past spring; and in the 

 strength and duration of the vernal flight the pair 

 under discussion have evidently been lured from 

 their ordinary design by the close approximation to 

 their ancestral home in the vigorous sjjruces of the 

 campus. 



Reference to my migration records shows the 

 species very common from April 25 until May 3, 

 after which their numbers gradually diminished, 

 with two noted on May 9 and the last one on the 

 sixteenth. To this one I instinctively bade silent 

 farewell as the last of the season. A month later 

 came the surprise when word reached me that Prof. 

 Crow had made the discovery. Together on June 

 25, we visited the scene. Both birds were readily 

 detected in the immediate vicinity. With the aid 

 of the binoculars we watched their actions as they 

 passed to and fro from feeding the young, ex- 

 amined as best we could the high suspended nest 

 by the same means , and were treated frequently to 

 the consummate song of the male. 



On the following morning I visited them again 

 for an hour and also during the afternoon of July 

 1st. Upon this latter occasion with abundance of 

 rope and an extension ladder I scaled to their pretty 

 domicile and gleaned most of the particulars here- 

 in concerning their domestic life. Balanced twenty 

 precarious feet in the air opposite the nest and at- 

 tempting the successful manipulation of a camera 

 was also a part of the engrossing programme. 



In view of the paucity of information concerning 

 the life-history of the Ruby-crown, I conceive it as 

 pardonable to digress somewhat from that brevity 

 which is the soul of wit, in favor of that greater 

 detail which it was my privilege to obtain. 



The nest, composed entirely of moss and lined with 

 feathers, was discreetly and beautifully hidden 

 among the drooping branches of a large white spruce. 

 Semi-pensile of construction, and swung twenty feet 

 from the ground, it enjoyed all the advantages of 

 unrestricted space. It was placed at that point 

 where the foliage massed itself the heaviest on the 

 bough, in this instance about four feet from the 

 drooping tip and ten from the trunk. The shaggy 

 pendant foliage so effectually concealed it that visi- 

 bility was certain only from below. Contrary to 

 most structures of this kind no use was made of the 

 main horizontal limb but was welted directly be- 

 neath it to numerous thin, dead, flexible twigs which 

 had been denuded of their needles. These passed 

 vertically down the outside walls of the nest at in- 

 tervals about its full circumference, undergoing a 

 flexion beneath it where the tips touched and were 

 well secured. Thus it will be seen that the nest 

 actually reposed within a wicker basket entirely 

 free of the main branch. The latter was about 

 two inches above the rim of the nest — just enough 

 to admit the ready passage of the birds. The nest was 



