WESTERN GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. Regulus satrapa olivaceus Baird

Field characters.—Size very small, about one-third that of Junco; tail shorter than body. Crown of head orange and yellow (male) or golden yellow (female) bordered on either side by black; a white stripe over eye; upper surface of body chiefly green; under surface whitish; one or two light bars on wings. (See pl. 10b). Movements quick, wings fluttered often. Voice: Song, a series of fine and wiry notes—tse; tse, tse, tse-tse-tse-tse, tse, tse; call notes similar but in shorter series.

Occurrence.—Moderately common, at least during summer season, in Canadian Zone (sparingly in Transition) on west slope of Sierra Nevada. Recorded from Hazel Green and Chinquapin eastward to slopes of Mount Hoffmann (at 8700 feet altitude) and to Merced Lake. Usually in Yosemite Valley throughout the year. Recorded on east side of mountains once, at Walker Lake, September 11, 1915. Inhabits terminal foliage of forest trees, chiefly conifers; in flocks of 4 to 15, usually about 5, except at nesting season when in pairs.

The Western Golden-crowned Kinglet gains its name from the patch of bright color on its head. In the male this is orange red at the center and yellow on the margins, while in the female it is only yellow; distinguishment of the sexes is thus possible in the field. With both sexes the crown is bounded by black on the forehead and sides, and beneath this on each side is a white stripe running from the bill over the eye. The bright and handsome head marking in this species is exposed to view at all times, whereas the 'ruby' crown of its relative is exhibited only when that bird is excited. There are no conspicuous differences as to the body plumage in the two kinglets. (See pl. 10a, b).

The range of the Western Golden-crowned Kinglet lies chiefly in the Canadian Zone, though some of the birds are usually to be found in the Transition Zone. In most years a few nest in Yosemite Valley, although in 1920 the species seemed to be entirely lacking there. In winter the range is much the same as in summer, there being little if any retreat from the higher altitudes, in so far as the facts at our disposal indicate. Numbers are to be found in Yosemite Valley in December, February, and March, and in all probability the same is true in the Canadian Zone fir belt above the Valley. The Golden-crowns do not visit the foothills to any extent; our only record below the Transition Zone is of one bird at 1700 feet altitude two miles below El Portal on December 18, 1914. On February 29, 1916, Western Golden-crowned Kinglets were the most common birds in Yosemite Valley, 25 being noted among the 51 birds all told recorded in a census which lasted 1-1/2 hours.

Golden-crowned kinglets are to be found in small flocks from the time the broods appear in early summer until the beginning of the next nesting season. It seems not unlikely that some of these may be family groups which have never broken up, as a majority of the bands number about 5 individuals. Occasionally larger flocks are encountered; 3 groups observed in Yosemite Valley in the winter of 1914 had 8, 12, and 15 birds, respectively. Sometimes the kinglets have associated with them other small species such as the Mountain Chickadee and Sierra Creeper, but more often they remain by themselves.

In the vicinity of Feliciana Mountain in the fall of 1915 Golden-crowned Kinglets were abundant, and on October 29 particular attention was given to them. Six groups were heard and their numbers, on the basis of notes alone, were estimated at 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, and 3. Four more groups were sought out and their numbers ascertained by actual count, the results being 5, 6, 5, and 5. On this basis, in the fall months, we should expect to find about five Golden-crowned Kinglets in each small flock recorded by ear.

These birds forage in both coniferous and broad-leaved trees, but most of their time is spent in the former. Their food is obtained on the smaller branches and amid the needles and leaves and consists of small insects. At all times the birds are active, hopping lightly this way or that as occasion requires, and often fluttering the wings as a help, perhaps, in maintaining a certain position or in holding their balance when stretching out for some titbit otherwise beyond reach. The members of a flock keep in rather close proximity though each forages irrespectively of his neighbor.

The voice of the Western Golden-crowned Kinglet is so simple and weak as to be a decided disappointment to anyone who has heard and enjoyed the song of the Ruby-crown. The Golden-crown utters nothing but faint high-pitched lisping notes. The full song is a series of these beginning slowly, then given more rapidly, with one or two separated syllables at the end: tse; tse, tse, tse-tse-tse-tse, tse, tse. This is to be heard in the spring season and at least until the end of June. During the remainder of the year notes of similar character are uttered, but in shorter series, or singly. So far as we know this is the main difference between song and call in the Golden-crowned Kinglet. It seems rather odd that this bird should be so limited in vocabulary and weak of voice when its relative, the Ruby-crown, is such an elaborate and impressive singer.

There is considerable similarity between the notes of the Golden-crowned Kinglet and the Sierra Creeper. The kinglet's song is longer and the notes in the middle of it are run together more rapidly than are those in the creeper's song. In the winter months the Golden-crown usually utters several notes at a time, whereas the creeper gives at that season only a single or a two-part call. There are differences in timbre, but these can be learned only by following up individual birds of the two species under conditions which allow of comparison.

Mid-May finds the Golden-crowned Kinglets busy with nest building, and by June the parents are carrying food for the young. The latter appear abroad by July if not earlier. At Hazel Green on May 14, 1919, an adult bird (sex not ascertained) was seen about some small Douglas spruces carrying white downy material in the bill. The bird made off through two small white firs and thence into a large sugar pine, where, ascending to a height of 60 feet or more, it disappeared on an outswaying branch into a dark mass which looked like mistletoe.

In Yosemite Valley on May 18, 1919, a pair of Golden-crowned Kinglets was seen displaying considerable anxiety over the presence in a certain yellow pine near Stoneman Bridge of a Blue-fronted Jay. The kinglets were heard about the tree on several subsequent days, and finally on May 23 it was seen that they were actively engaged in nest construction. The site was about 25 feet above the ground and in a thick bunch of needles near the end of an almost horizontal branch about 8 feet long. The exact location was ascertained by watching the female as she carried a tuft of white cottony material directly to the site in a bee line through two adjacent trees. Several installments were brought in quick succession. Once the bird had procured a downy feather which she placed in the nest; but the wind took it away, whereupon she launched into the air and retrieved the feather, to replace it more securely in the nest. Only the female in this case seemed to be carrying material. The nest was, on this date (May 23), only well started, as the light of the sky could be seen through all parts of it by the observer stationed on the ground.

On June 12, 1915, Mrs. Joseph Grinnell saw a Golden-crowned Kinglet in a yellow pine near the old Presidio. The bird had its bill filled with insects and was evidently engaged in feeding a brood. Later in the same season, on July 24, one of our party found a kinglet nest in the same neighborhood, presumably the one used by this bird, 30 feet above the ground in a yellow pine. Upon being brought to hand the nest was found to have been torn open by some bird or mammal. In the substance of the nest the kinglets had included many cocoons of spiders. When the nest was found, it was swarming with young spiders. This nest contained some peculiarly marked feathers which proved to be those of a Saw-whet Owl and these constituted our first and for a long time our only local record for that species, as noted in another chapter.