340 



Brewster on the Golden-crested Kinglet. 



[October 



neath rough and broken by ledges whose rugged outlines were 

 more or less softened by a luxuriant covering of moss and rock 

 ferns. The nest was on the south side of the tree about thirty 

 feet above the ground, twelve feet out from the main stem, and 

 five feet from the end of the branch. It was found June 17, 

 when the bird was at work carrying into it what appeared to 

 be the lining. We could not examine it closely without cutting 

 off the branch, so it was left until June 29, when it proved to be 

 empty, evidently deserted, and so dilapidated that at first we 

 were inclined to believe it an old nest. This cannot have been 

 the case, however, for the materials of which it is composed are 

 quite new and fresh. These are essentially the same as in the 

 other two nests, but there is no lining, although the outer edges 

 of the rim as well as much of the upper portions of the exterior 

 are covered with a profusion of feathers (chiefly those of the 

 Ruffed Grouse with a few of the Red Crossbill) while others are 

 merely entangled among the surrounding twigs. The probable 

 explanation of this state of aftairs is that the nest was first 

 deserted, and shortly afterwards partially dismantled, either by 

 the owners or by some mischievous squirrel or mouse. Origi- 

 nally, however, it must have had feathers over most of the ex- 

 terior, for many of those now there are firmly attached to, or 

 even woven into, the moss of which it is composed. This nest 

 is larger than either of the others, measuring as follows : greatest 

 external diameter, 4.00 ; least, 2.10; greatest depth, 3.90 ; least, 

 2.90 inches. The interior is too badly damaged to admit of ac- 

 curate measurements. 



To recapitulate. In position — but not of course in construction 

 the first nest resembles that of the Baltimore Oriole, being sim- 

 ilarly hung near the ends of long, drooping twigs. The second is 

 built more like a Vireo's, but with this difference, that instead of 

 being suspended by its upper edges only, and between the forks 

 of a single stem, it is supported on every side, and from the top 

 nearly to the bottom, by numerous slender, but stiff, radiating 

 twio-s. It is, nevertheless, a distinctly pensile structure. The 

 position of the third nest is different from that of either of the 

 others. Placed nearly midway between two stout branches 

 which in reality are forks of the same branch, one above the 

 other, and at the point in question about six inches apart, it is 

 attached by the sides and upper edges to the twigs which depend 



188S.] 



Brewster on the Golden-crested Kinglet. 



from the branch above, while its bottom rests firmly on a brist- 

 ling platform of stems which rise from the branch below. Thus 

 it is at once pensile and non-pensile. 



The eighteen eggs making up the two sets above-mentioned 

 vary considerably in shape. The majority are more or less regu- 

 larly ovate, but several are elliptical-ovate, while two are very 

 nearly perfectly elliptical-oval. The ground color varies from 

 creamy white to exceedingly deep, often somewhat muddy, cream 

 color. Over this light ground are sprinkled numerous markings 

 of pale wood-brown, while at least three specimens have a few 

 spots and blotches of faint lavender. The brown markings vary 

 in size from the finest possible dots to rather large blotches. In 

 most of the specimens they are distributed pretty thickly over 

 the entire shell, but in nearly all they are most numerous about 

 the larger ends where they form a more or less distinct wreath 

 pattern, while in four or five (and these have the lightest ground 

 color) they are nearly confined to the larger ends, the remainder 

 of the egg being very sparsely marked. Separating these eigh- 

 teen eggs into the two sets to which they respectively belong, I 

 find that these sets resemble each other very closely in every way, 

 each having specimens representing all the variations above 

 described excepting that all three of the eggs with lavender mark- 

 ings belong to the same set. In both sets the whitest, most 

 sparsely spotted eggs were the freshest, showing that they were 

 the last ones laid. 



Lest the detail of the above description mislead the reader as 

 to the general appearance of these eggs it may be well to add 

 that while there can be no doubt that the markings are genuine 

 pigment spots and not mere superficial stains (this has been 

 doubted by some writers), they are, as a rule, so fine and so little 

 darker than the ground color, that many of the eggs when 

 viewed at a distance or in a poor light appear brownish cream 

 color and immaculate. The eggs just described measure respec- 

 tively : (Set A— 9) .56 X .44, .57 X . 44, .55 X .43, .57 X .43, 

 .57 X .44, -57 X •44> -56 X .45, .57 X .44, .57 X .44 inches. 

 (Set B— 9) .56 X .44, .56 X .45, .52 X •42> -59 X .451 -57 x .45> 

 •53 X.43, .57 X .45> -56 X .44, .54 X .44 inches. 



In both nests the eggs, too numerous to find sufficient space 

 for their accommodation on the bottom of the nest, were f iled 

 in two layers, one above the other. In the first nest the relative 



