Semi-Pensile, Pensile or Hanging Nests 



/idult^ — Has yellow instead of orange on the crown. Length — 



4.07. 

 Breeding Range — The elevated and more northern part of the 



United States. 



The nests seem to vary greatly, both in form, method of 

 support, and in the materials used in their construction. Minot 

 describes a nest he found in the White Mountains as being 

 "globular, with an entrance in the upper part; it was composed 

 of hanging moss, ornamented with bits of dead leaves, and lined 

 chiefly with feathers." Three nests found by Mr. Brewster* 

 were in brief as follows : First, within two feet of the top of a 

 spruce tree sixty feet from the ground, suspended among the fine 

 pendent twigs, resembling the Baltimore oriole's nest in its posi- 

 tion ; second, twenty feet below the top of a large spruce, in a 

 cluster of stiff twigs, built something after the manner of the 

 vireo's nest, but supported on all sides by radiating twigs ; third, 

 in a spruce tree, five feet from the end^of the branch, the nest sus- 

 pended from above and resting on a platform of sticks. It is 

 difficult to know whether these birds habitually build a pensile 

 or a globular nest, or a combination of the two. The material 

 used in constructing these nests is green moss, lichen, usnea 

 (moss), lined with strips of bark, fine roots, and feathers. The 

 eggs, white to dark cream colour, with small dots or blotches of 

 light brown and pale lavender, vary in number from 6 to 10. 

 Size — .56 X .44. See Fig. 21, Plate C. 



749. Ruby-crowned Kinglet: Reerulus calendula (Linn.) 



Adult t — Upper parts olive green; middle of crown scarlet 

 (partly concealed) ; under parts whitish ; wing has two whit- 

 ish bars. Length — 4.41. 



Breeding Range — The higher mountains, and from the northern 

 border of the United States northward. 



The nest, usually pensile or semi-pensile, is placed at from 

 twelve to thirty feet from the ground, and is made of mosses, 

 strips of soft bark, and feathers. The eggs, 5 to 9 in number, are 

 whitish, with spots of light brown, chiefly at the larger end. 

 Size — .59 X .43. 



The descriptions of the nests of these Kinglets are taken (in 

 brief) mainly from Davie's "Nests and Eggs of North American 

 Birds." 



* " The Auk," v., pp. 357-344- 



121 



