THE OOLOGIST 



61 



at the nest one minute then dropped 

 to the ground. Seven minutes later 

 a male which I took to be a stranger, 

 appeared in the lower branches, hunt- 

 ed leisurely up through the tree and 

 when near the nest hopped up close 

 and looked in but dodged back as 

 though he was scared, hesitated a sec- 

 ond then flew away. Eleven minutes 

 later the male came and fed the young 

 staying one minute. Then I left the 

 vicinity. 



Visited the nest again July 23d and 

 found it empty and saw nothing of the 

 young. There was a nest in the same 

 tree in June, 1906, but it was not 

 used. 



Nest No. 13, June 7, 1907. Nest in 

 same tree and on same branch as 

 No. 12, making the third nest found 

 in the same tree. The Cowbird's 

 eggs were imbedded in the lining of 

 this nest being nearly covered with 

 the lining and there were four eggs 

 of the warbler. 



Another nest found June 7, had 

 one egg of Cowbird in it and the Warb- 

 ler never used it.. 



Nest No. 14, June 13, 1909, was in a 

 hemlock a little back from a wood 

 road. It was 12 ft. up and 6 ft. from 

 the body of the tree and contained 

 two eggs. Visited it again June 16th, 

 and the female sat close until I reach- 

 ed her, when she dropped to the 

 ground. I had my camera with me and 

 exposed two plates. The first did not 

 show the nest on account of the dense 

 foliage. Before exposing the second 

 one I cut away the leaves from over 

 the nest and got the result here shown. 

 The female was near all of the time 

 that I was at the nest and after I 

 reached the ground again she flew to 

 it, looked in and dodged back then 

 looked in again and flew away but 

 was on the nest again two minutes 

 after I had left the tree. Ten days 

 later I visited this nest again hoping to 



get a picture of the young, but it was 

 empty and deserted. 



Nest No. 15, June 23, 1909. Nest 

 7 ft. from the body of a small hemlock 

 and 15 ft. from the ground. The tree 

 was situated about half way up a gul 

 ly bank. Nest contained four fresh. 

 eggs and the female was on the nest 

 and after flushing remained close by 

 and was quiet. 



Of the fifteen nests, here described, 

 nine contained four eggs each, three 

 had five eggs each, one four and two 

 of Cowbird, one three and one of Cow- 

 bird and one had three eggs partly 

 broken and deserted. The latter prob- 

 ably an incomplete set. 



Cowbirds eggs found in but three 

 nests. 



The male bird appeared at but two 

 of the nests. The female seemed to do 

 all the incubating and when flushed 

 from the nest invariably dropped to 

 the ground or sailed nearly to the 

 ground but was soon back in the near- 

 by branches and was usually quiet. 



We find many empty nests every 

 year that are never used and on the 

 second visit we often find the lining 

 torn out or the nest on the ground. 

 VERDI BURTCH, 



From the Isle of Pines. 



Ricord's Hummer (Riccordia ricor- 

 dii)— 1. 4 1-8 in., w. 2.6 in. Male, up- 

 per parts shining green; a white spot 

 or small line behind eye; tail long 

 and bronzy; under parts a metalic 

 green; under tail coverts white. Fe- 

 male, similar but duller. 



The Hummer is very common in the 

 jungles along the arroyas and rivers 

 and is very fond of feeding from the 

 "Hahogwa" blossoms. It is often 

 seen perching in the thicket just so 

 that a ray of sunshine falls upon it, 

 making a very pretty sight. Often 

 when so occupied it will burst into a 

 song, a very low but quite musical 



