The Ruby-crowned Kinglets 
Description. —Similar to C. c. calendula, but larger and much less olivaceous; the 
color tone of the foreparts ashy or grayish olive,—decided olive-green often not appear¬ 
ing above the middle of the back; probably also without increase of olivaceous in fall 
and winter. 
Nesting.— Nest: A ball of moss, lichens, fine bark-strips, etc., bound together 
with cobwebs, and lashed to drooping twigs, beneath branch of conifer; lined with 
vegetable down, catkins, hair and feathers; and placed at moderate or considerable 
heights. Eggs: 5 to 9; dull white or pale buffy, faintly or sharply but finely speckled 
with reddish brown, chiefly about larger end. Av. of 25 California-taken eggs in the 
M. C. O. colls.: 14 x 10.5 (.55 x .415). Season: June; one brood (?). 
Range of C. c. cineraceus. — Imperfectly defined. Probably occupies a west- 
central area in the United States which includes the Sierra Nevada and associated 
ranges, and the western portion and flanks of the intra-mountain trough, which extends 
well north into central British Columbia. There are few problems more fascinating or 
difficult than the distribution of the races of Corthylio calendula, and the key to a 
solution of this one lies in a study of the songs. 
Distribution in California. —Common breeder in Boreal zone from the Warner 
and Siskiyou Mountains south along the central Sierras to about Long Meadow in 
Tulare County (Grinnell); also in the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains. 
Common in winter at the lower levels, especially southerly and southeasterly. 
No. 156b Sitka Kinglet 
A. O. U. No. 749a. Corthylio calendula grinnelli Palmer. 
Synonyms.— Alaskan Kinglet. Sitka Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Grin- 
nell's Kinglet. 
Description. —Like C. c. calendula, but of much darker coloration—a “saturated” 
form; also wing somewhat shorter, bill larger, etc. Young birds, especially, are much 
more heavily tinged with olivaceous above and with olive-buffy below. Av. measure¬ 
ments of males: wing 56.6 (2.23); tail 42.9 (1.69); bill 8.7 (.34); tarsus 18.1 (.72). 
Recognition Marks. —A strikingly darker coloration than in C. c. calendula. 
Nesting. —As preceding. Does not breed in California. 
Range of C. c. grinnelli. —Pacific Coast district, breeding from British Columbia 
to head of Lynn Canal and Yukutat Bay, Alaska; south in winter to middle California. 
Occurrence in California. —Fairly common winter resident in the Northwest 
humid coast strip south to Monterey; less common or casual south to Santa Barbara; 
also Redlands (Bishop). 
Authorities.—Grinnell, Condor, vol. iii., 1901, p. 48 (San Mateo Co.; crit.); 
ibid., Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 3, 1902, p. 72 (status in Calif.); ibid., no. 11, 1915, p. 168 
(status in Calif.); Bishop, Condor, vol. vii., 1905, p. 143 (Redlands). 
THE SIGHT of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, no matter where, begets 
in one a feeling akin to reverence. It is too beautiful, too sudden for 
mere flesh and blood, and we know that we are getting a winged message 
from the Creative Infinite. 
It seems only yesterday I saw him—Easter Day in old Ohio. The 
significant dawn was struggling with heaped-up clouds,—the incredu¬ 
lities and fears of the world’s night; but now and again the invincible sun 
found some tiny rift and poured a flood of tender gold upon a favored 
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