THE PLAINS AND COLORADO 123 



homes." — The Country, Vol. 2, No. 8, June 15, 1878. From 

 contributed article by William E. D. Scott. 



An incident of my collecting at Twin Lakes 

 was the discovery of the first known nest of the 

 ruby-crowned kinglet. Until now the method 

 of breeding of this bird had been more or less 

 a matter of conjecture, and the eggs had not 

 been seen. From the paper cited in the appen- 

 dix, I quote the following notes with regard to 

 this little kinglet, and a description of the nest 

 made at the time. 



" One of the most common song-birds, and heard every- 

 where. On the 20th of June I saw a female fly to a pine tree 

 with material in her bill for building a nest. On looking I 

 found a nest nearly finished. On the 2Sth of June I took this 

 nest with five fresh eggs, and the female showed signs of hav- 

 ing incubated. I think no more eggs would have been laid. 

 The nest is before me as I write, and presents the following 

 peculiarities : It is semipensile, being suspended to the leaves 

 of the pine, and to one small branch, much like the red-eyed 

 vireo's nest. It is very large in proportion to the builder, and 

 is made of the bark of sage-brush and oi green moss very firmly 

 twisted together, and forming a soft outer wall of from half to 

 a full inch in thickness. This is lined with feathers and hair. 

 The whole nest is very soft, and has the following dimensions : 

 Four inches deep outside, three inches deep inside, three inches 

 in diameter outside, and two inches at the top inside, but nar- 

 rowing to an inch and a half at the bottom. On the outside 

 it is as wide at the bottom as at the top, being in this respect 

 like a Baltimore oriole's. It was placed at the very outermost 

 twigs and leaves of the tree, about twelve feet from the ground. 

 The eggs are five in number, of a dirty white color, faintly 



