ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD 383 



to this, a few small ants walking around tlie mouth of the bottle 

 will often keep the bird away entirely. Wliether this fear is an 

 instinct founded on the occasional destruction of nestlings by ants 

 is, of course, merely a matter of conjecture. Although the humming- 

 birds ordinarily treat the bees with indifference, I have watched one 

 attack bees flying around an agave stalk, darting at one after another 

 with open bill as if trying to bite them. 



When a male hummingbird preempts a certain territory, he 

 chooses one or more elevated exposed perches from which he can 

 survey his domain and quickly detect trespassers. Sometimes he 

 will use the same perch almost constantly through a whole season, 

 seeking a more sheltered place only in very hot or windy weather; 

 other individuals will alternate between two or more favorite 

 perches, or select new ones at intervals without apparent reason. 

 Acknowledging no family responsibilities, the males spend a large 

 proportion of their daylight hours on these perches; but even the 

 females who are caring for the young unaided seem to have an 

 abundance of leisure in which to rest, preen their plumage, and 

 engage in skirmishes. 



Hummingbirds are fond of bathing, especially during the cooler 

 part of the year. Often they seem afraid to enter w^ater of any 

 appreciable depth, but they enjoy bathing in a thin film of water 

 flowing over a flat rock. Most of their bathing is done on dew- 

 covered foliage in the early morning and, when available, in the fine 

 spray of a lawn sprinkler. They revel in misty or drizzly rain and 

 are particularly active under such conditions. Carroll Dewilton 

 Scott, of Pacific Beach, Calif., writes (MS.) : "Anna's hummingbirds 

 have a strong attraction for moving water. They will hover over irri- 

 gation ditches, evidently fascinated by the running water. I have 

 never seen one drink anywhere or take a bath in still water. But the 

 spray of a hose or a fountain is irresistible for a shower bath, even in 

 January. Whenever I spray the garden a hummer is sure to 

 appear." Unusual actions of a bathing hummingbird are described by 

 F. N. Bassett (1924): 



On August 17, 1924, while watering my lawn in Alameda, California, I placed 

 the sprinkler in position and had just turned on the water when an adult male 

 Anna Hummingbird {Calypte anna) flew into and poised in the dense spray. 

 After glancing about for a moment he gradually assumed a vertical position 

 and spreading his tail, then slowly settled to the ground, meanwhile drawing 

 the tail back until it nearly reached the horizontal plane, when he actually 

 "sat" on the grass, the body erect and the tail spread out fanwise behind him. 

 The wings continued to vibrate while in this position, but the strokes were 

 much less frequent than when flying, being just sufficient to maintain a vertical 

 balance. In a few seconds he began increasing the wing strokes and slowly 

 ascended about a foot above the ground where he poised a moment and then 

 repeated the entire performance several times, after which he flew to a wire 

 overhead. 



