1926] Swarth: Birds and Mammals from the Atlin Region 127 



incubated about one-half. Within a few hundred yards a second nest 

 was found in a similar situation, on the ground under some trailing 

 birch, with four eggs incubated as the first lot were. Again the bird 

 was seen running from the nest under the bushes. 



The first nest wa^ built externally of gray plant fiber, a few balsam 

 twigs, bits of dried flakes of bark, and a very little green moss; the 

 lining was of dry grass, with several white ptarmigan feathers inter- 

 woven. External diameter, 120 mm. ; internal diameter, 65 mm. ; 

 outside depth, 55 mm. ; inside depth, 35 mm. 



The second nest differs in minor details, having far more green 

 moss worked into the outer wall, and lacking any feathers in the 

 lining. External diameter, 135 mm.; internal diameter, 65 mm.; 

 outside depth, 55 mm. ; inside depth, 35 mm. 



The two sets of eggs measure, in millimeters, as follows : 



First set (no. 1986) ; 22.0 x 15.8, 22.2 x 16.2, 22.2 x 15.5, 23.0 x 16.0, 

 22.0 X 16.0. 



Second set (no. 1985), 23.5x16.2, 24.0x16.0, 23.0x16.5, 

 22.8x16.5. 



The eggs are speckled and mottled with brown on a pale greenish 

 ground. Of the two sets here described, one (no. 1986) is much more 

 heavily marked than the other, the ground color being almost 

 obliterated. The eggs of the golden-crowned sparrow are closely 

 similar to those of the Gambel and Nuttall sparrows. Both of the 

 above described sets can be duplicated almost exactly in series of eggs 

 of those species. 



Several hours after our first two discoveries. Brooks found a third 

 nest, this one in a low thicket of balsam, a thicket about twenty feet 

 square but with the sprawling branches rising not more than knee high 

 above the ground. The nest M^as in the branches, about ten inches up, 

 and was much bulkier than those on the ground. It was a gray- 

 colored structure, the outer walls of coarse weed stalks and shredded 

 stuff that appeared to be the bark of some of the annuals growing 

 thereabout. The lining was mostly fine grass, with one conspicuous 

 white ptarmigan feather. The whole nest was about 180 mm. in 

 diameter, and 90 mm. deep. The nest cavity was 76 mm. across. It 

 contained four fresh eggs. 



On June 22 a fourth nest was found on the same mountain, in much 

 the same situation as the first two (see pi. 7, fig. 7). It was on a dry 

 ridge under a scant growth of dwarf birch, the nest buried between 

 tufts of long, dry grass, and itself constructed mostly of dry grass and 



