494 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Colorado, this bird breeds from 7000 to 10,000 feet altitude. A nest tajten July 5 

 ■was placed in the uppermost branches of a spruce thirty feet from the gronnd— in 

 one of those dark masses where the cones grow thickest. It contained four fresh 

 and one addled egg. Dr. M^rill found a nest of this species containing eight eggs, 

 in Montana, on the 18th 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 at- 

 tached. Dr. Merrill also found these birds common about Fort Klamath, Oregon, 

 apparently placing yieir nests in dense firs. Mr. Montague Chamberlain records a 

 nest which was taken at Lennoxville, Quebec, May 15, 1882. This was pensile, and 

 was attached to a branch of a small tree. It contained nine eggs, one of them a 

 Cowbird's. The nests of the Ruby-crown vary somewhat in their general style of 

 structure and in composition. They are usually semi-pensile, neatly and well' made 

 with soft, thick walls, composed of moss, fine strips of bark, and well lined with 

 feathers of various birds, which are woven into the sides and bottom of the structure. 

 The eggs are five to nine in number, and are dull whitish or pale buffy, faintly 

 speckled or spotted with light brown, chiefly at the larger ends. Their average size 

 is .55X.43. Occasionally some of the eggs of this bird are very nearly plain in color. 



750. DUSKY KINGLET. Begulus obscurus Rldgw. Geog. Dist.— Guadalupe 

 Island, Lower California. 



Mr. Walter E. Bryant found the Dusky Kinglet frequenting more numerously the 

 large cypress grove on Guadalupe Island; they were also found in the smaller groves 

 and among the pines. As early as the middle of February, nest-building was in 

 order, the birds selecting the topmost foliage of a cypress, and sometimes the very 

 outer extremity of a horizontal branch. After many days' diligent search, three 

 nests were observed, and these were detected by watching the birds collect building 

 material, or by tracing to its source a peculiar, low song which the male sometimes 

 sings when close to the nest. These nests were all found over twenty feet high, and 

 ohly one could be seen, from the ground, and that merely during the intervals when 

 the wind parted the branches. They were placed in the midst of a thick bunch of 

 foliage and but lightly secured to the twigs. Compact, though not very smooth in 

 structure, they were composed of soft bark-strips intermingled with feathers, bits 

 of moss, fine grass and cocoons. Additional warmth is secured by a quantity either 

 of goat's hair or feathers, and, lastly, a thin lining of goat's hair. Their external 

 measurement is about 70 mm. in height by 90 mm. in diameter, while the Internal 

 depth is about 45 mm., and diameter 35 to 45 mm.* A nest containing two fresh eggs 

 was found March 24, in the top of a slender cypress twenty-five feet high. It could 

 not be seen from the ground, but was located by the subdued song of the male bird. 

 In color the eggs are white, with a dense wreath of pale yellowish-brown spots en- 

 circling the larger end. In some places these spots appear to be laid over a pale 

 lavender washing, and in one specimen, these fine, almost indistinct dots extend 

 sparingly over the entire surface. They measure in millimeters, 14x11 and l^xll.f 



751. BLTTE-GBAY GNATCATCHER. PoliopWa cwrulea (Linn.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Middle and southern portions of the Eastern United States, south, in winter 

 to Guatemala, Cuba, and the Bahamas; rare north toward the Great Lakes, Southern 



• External height about 2.76, diameter 3.54; Internal depth 1.77, and diameter 1.38 to 1.77 

 inches. 



t .55x43, .59x43 inches. 



