322 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



was made of sycamore down, covered with lichens. The female sat in 

 the nest until I reached the branch, and then flew, returning again 

 almost immediately and sitting on the nest until I almost touched 

 her with the net; she tried to get under the net while I was taking 

 the eggs out, and finally settled right in the net. After the eggs were 

 taken she returned and rearranged some of the lining while I was 

 cutting off the branch." All these nests were found at altitudes 

 ranging from 5,000 to 8,500 feet, mostly nearer the former level. 

 Bendire (1895) says that they range up to 10,000 feet. 



Mr. Willard, in his published article (1899), describes the bird's 

 actions in building its nest : 



Returning the next day, what looked like the beginning of a nest could be 

 seen ; so I sat down to watch. The bird soon came with something in her bill 

 which she stopped just a second to place in position, then flew ofE through the 

 branches of a large pine nearby. On her return I could see nothing in her 

 beak, but she evidently had some spider web, for she laid something on one 

 side of the nest and then, turning around, reached under the branch and took 

 hold of it and pulled it under and up, fastening it in place by a stroking 

 motion with the side of her bill. This work continued with great regularity 

 during the hour spent in watching her, nearly every other trip seeming to be 

 after spider web. Once a short stop for rest was made, and several expeditions 

 against neighboring Wood Pewees or an inquisitive Jay relieved her labors. 

 Just a week was required to build the nest and lay two eggs. 



Of the behavior of the bird at another nest, he writes in the same 

 paper: "While I was trying to get within reach the female made 

 numerous dashes at me. She would fly from an oak a few rods dis- 

 tant, straight as an arrow right at my head, turning off and upward 

 at a sharp angle when within two or three feet of me. I instinctively 

 dodged several times, she came so close. During the last few feet of 

 her flight the wings were held perfectly steady, not vibrating in the 

 least until after she had turned. The humming of her wings was like 

 that made by an immense beetle or a bumblebee, lacking the sharpness 

 of that of small hummingbirds." 



Eggs. — The Kivoli's hummingbird lays almost invariably two eggs. 

 These are like other hummingbirds' eggs, pure white, without gloss, 

 and varying from oval to elliptical-oval, sometimes slightly elliptical- 

 ovate. The measurements of 43 eggs average 15.4 by 10.0 millimeters ; 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 16.5 by 10.4, 15.3 by 

 11.4, 14.0 by 10.0, and 15.1 by 9.4 millimeters. 



Plvmiages. — I have seen no nestlings and can find no description of 

 them. Kidgway (1892) says that the immature male is "intermediate 

 in coloration between the adult nlale and female, * * * the crown 

 only partly violet, the throat only partly green, chest slightly mixed 

 with black, etc., the tail exactly intermediate both in form and color." 

 And that the young female is "similar to the adult female, but all 

 the contour feathers of the upper parts margined with pale buffy- 



