NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. '427 



the rapidity and unaccountable way in which the substance was often 

 deposited in the clusters of dense foliage, made it a very difficult and 

 tedious task to locate the nest in the many similar dark clusters in the 

 Spruces. * 



The eggs vary from creamy-white to exceedingly deep, often some- 

 what muddy, cream color, sprinkled with numerous markings of pale 

 wood-brown, varying fronl small dots to blotches. Three specimens 

 are described by Mr. Brewster as having spots and blotchies of faint 

 lavender. The markings of most of the specimens are' distributed 

 pretty thickly over the entire shell, but in nearly all they are most nu- 

 merous about the larger ends, where they form a more or less distinct 

 cwreath. The sizes of Set A, nine eggs, are .56 x .44, .57 x .44, .55 x .43, 

 •57 X .43, -57 X .44, .56 X .45, .57 X .44, .57 X .44. 



748a. Regulus satrapa olivaceus Baird [33a.] 



'Western Golden-oroiriied Kinfflet. 



Hab. Pacific coast region from California to Sitka, ^ 



The nesting and eggs of this Pacific coast form of Golden-crowned 

 Kinglet are similar to those of R. satrapa. 



749. Regulus calendula (Linn.) [30.] 



Ru'by-croTirned Kingleti 



Hab. Entire North America, breeding from the northern border and higher mountains of the IJnited 

 States northward. "Winters in more Southern United States and southward to Northern Central America. 



The Ruby-crowned Kinglet breeds from the extreme northern 

 border and higher mountains, of the United States northward. Mr. 

 W. E. D. Scott took a nest containing five eggs on June 25, at Twin 

 I^akes, Colorado. The nest was suspended to the leaves of the utter- 

 most twigs of a pine ^ree, much like a Vireo's nest, and about twelve 

 feet from the ground. Mr. Frank M. Drew states that in San Juan 

 county, Colorado, this bird breeds from 7000 to loooo feet altitude. A 

 nest taken July 5 was placed in the uppermost branches of a spruce 

 thirty feet from the, ground — in one of those dark masses where the 

 cones grow thickest. It contained four young and one addled egg. 

 Dr. Merrill found a nest of this species containing eight eggs, in Mon- 

 tana, on the i8th of June, at an elevation of 7700 feet. It was in a 

 fir tree about eighteen feet from the ground, and placed directly against 

 the trunk, supported by a single branch beneath, and by several twigs 

 to which the sides were firmly attached. Dr. Merrill also found these 



* Mr. Brewster says that in her flights after building material the female went a distance of a hundred 

 yards or more, but oftener she confined her quest to the trees within a radius of fifty yards or less of the one 

 which concealed the nest. She was invariably followed closely by the male, who, however, did not assist her 

 in any way other than by singing almost incessantly in an undertone. In the case of the nests discovered, 

 the males' singing was the characteristic performance which attracted attention to the spot where the fe- 

 male was at work.. 



