118 



THE OOLOGIST. 



of their eggs but in each case the 

 bird seemed not to be in the vicinity 

 of the nest. 



The nests, which all looked old and 

 flimsy, were lined with shreds of red- 

 wood bark whose rich brown color 

 made a pretty back-ground for the four 

 creamy white, brown spotted f ggs 

 which the nest almost invariably con- 

 tained. The nest was usually situated 

 against the body of the ti'ee at the base 

 of a limb. I have found them on the 

 ground under logs, in old stumps and 

 in piles of drift, but always near the 

 water, often over it. We fished our way 

 down to the cart and got a nice mess of 

 trout. We hitched up and started back 

 for the Ll'igas creek proposing to camp 

 there that night and hunt along it the 

 following day. It was near sunset 

 when we found a suitable camping place. 

 Our blankets were spread under an arch 

 made by two large buckeye trees. The 

 leafy canopy formed a kind of ceiling 

 which reflected the light of our camp 

 tire as we fried our trout and boiled the 

 coffee, a supper tit for kings. After the 

 tire had burned low we lay rolled up in 

 our blankets looking through the leaves 

 at the stars in the clear sky. But the 

 music of the brook, the whispering 

 breezes and the distant hooting owl 

 soon led us into dreamland where we 

 found numbers of nests each containing 

 dozens of eggs of various sizes, we saw 

 hummingbirds sitting on ostrich eggs 

 and eagles nesting on the ground. 



A chorus of singing birds awoke us, 

 the bright sun was shining through the 

 leaves and turning all the dew-drops 

 into diamonds. A hasty breakfast of 

 trout and coffee and we were off. Will 

 started for the stream to wash his hands 

 and as he passed under the opposite 

 side of our shelleiing tree I saw him 

 dodge, then he laughed, and reaching 

 up among the leaves and holding them 

 apart called for me to look. As [ came 

 up I had occassion to dodge also then 

 we both laughed. When a humming 



bird flies about an inch from your ear 

 without you seeing her I assure you, 

 you will be startled. I looked where 

 Will was reaching up and saw what look- 

 ed like the bowl of a clay pipe stuck to 

 the limb. It was the nest of the Anna's 

 Hummingbird that had startled us. It 

 was made of the yelloAV down frcm the 

 sycamore and resembled a small conical 

 sponge saddled to the twig. It contain- 

 ed two pearly elipsoids — and thus our 

 luck began. As we reached the stream 

 another hummer whizzed past us and 

 poised in mid air overthe water turning^ 

 its jeweled head from side to side while 

 its brilliant neck feathers shon ersplend- 

 ant in the sun and glittered with ada- 

 mantine lustre. With a sudden turn it 

 darted lightning-like to its nest where it 

 lit without apparently chicking its 

 speed. This nest was 20 ft. above the 

 water. It was composed of pure white 

 willow cotton and decorated vvith green 

 moss and lichens which were bound on 

 with spider web. 



Two youngsters greeted me with 

 wide opened mouths and I descended in 

 disgust. This was the Black-chinned 

 Hummingbird. 



We started up the creek but we seem- 

 ed to have our best luck near our camp- 

 ing place. On a low limb of a sycamore 

 I found a nest of the Arkansas Goldflnch 

 with a set of four eggs in it. The nest 

 was of fine grass and down. Will 

 meantime found a set of the same and 

 one of Lawrence's Goldfinch. In a. 

 shrubby live oak near by I took a set of 

 four eggs of Black-headed Grossbeak, 

 which were fresh but another set near 

 by were badly incubated. Toward noon 

 our luck gave out and I became restless 

 and began to amuse myself by throwing 

 rocks. In passing wuder a large syca- 

 more tree I threw a green buckeye ball 

 among its low hanging branches. It 

 struck the trunk of the tree and burst 

 into a thousand pieces, and as it struck 

 I heard a hum of wings and a pretty 

 Black-chinned Hummingbird darted 



