BLACK-CHIJSTNED HUMMINGBIRD 355 



outer diameter of this nest is about 1% inches by 1 inch in depth; the inner 

 cup is 1 inch in diameter by five eighths of an inch deep ; and while some speci- 

 mens before me are a trifle larger, others are considerably smaller. Nests 

 talcen in the Sequoia National Park, in Tulare County, California, have per- 

 ceptibly thicker walls than those from the warmer lowlands, and are also cor- 

 respondingly larger. The nests are either saddled on a small, drooping branch 

 or on a fork, one or two of the smaller twigs composing this usually being in- 

 corporated in the walls and holding it securely in place. Many of the nests 

 resemble small, fine sponges, and are equally elastic, readily regaining their 

 shape after being squeezed together. They are generally placed from 4 to 

 8 feet from the ground, mostly in the shrubbery found near small creeks or 

 springs, and frequently their nests overhang the water or the dry creek bed. 

 Alders, cottonwoods, oak, sycamore, laurel, and willows are most often selected 

 for nesting sites, as well as young orchards, especially apple and orange trees, 

 where they are available. 



Frank Stephens wrote to Bendire that he "found a set of eggs of 

 this species * * * laid in a nest of the House Finch, Carpoda- 

 ciMS mexicamos fi'ontalis. No lining had been added, or any other 

 changes made; the bird evidently was in haste to lay, her nest, per- 

 haps, having been suddenly destroyed." 



Nests have also been found in a pear tree in an orchard, in a wild 

 grape vine, in a tree-rose in a garden, and even on the stalks of 

 various weeds; Dr. Grinnell (1914) mentions one that "was four feet 

 above the ground on a slanting dead stalk of arrowweed beneath a 

 large spreading willow." John McB. Kobertson (1933) reports a 

 nest in a most unusual location. It was built in the loop of a small 

 rope that hung from a board in his garage. The nest rested on a 

 knot at the bottom of the loop and was supported on opposite sides 

 by the rope, to which it was securely tied with spider web; it was 

 made of plant down and covered on the outside with stamens of 

 eucalyptus blossoms. "Other objects to be seen in it are several tiny 

 bits of eucalyptus bark, a scrap of dry leaf, several long human 

 hairs, a small feather that is probably from a Linnet, a pair of 

 bracts from a plant that furnished down, and a seed of alfilaria." 



The nest of the black-chinned hummingbird is an exquisite struc- 

 ture, semiglobular in shape, or little more than half of a sphere, as 

 if less than the upper half of the globe had been removed; it is 

 deeply hollowed, and the rim is curved inward at the top, a wise 

 provision of the builder to prevent the eggs or small young from fall- 

 ing out, as the supporting twig or weed stalk is swayed by the wind. 

 It is firmly felted with plant down of various colors, mainly in dif- 

 ferent shades of buff, from "cartridge buff" to "pale pinkish buff" or 

 "cinnamon-buff'"; an occasional nest, in some 40 that I have exam- 

 ined, is made of the buffy-white or pure white down of the willow. 

 The elastic, spongy structure is well reinforced and firmly bound to 

 the supporting twigs with spider web, giving it much greater strength 

 than it appears to have. Its durability is remarkable for such a 



