48 



THE OOLOGIST. 



generally distributed throughout the 

 State. These birds nest about the beds 

 of bright-tinted flowers which are so 

 numerous in this State. They find in 

 these flowers rich store-houses of mi- 

 nute forms of forest life which consti- 

 tute a great share of their diet. Here 

 they hover upon tremulous winglets, 

 now feasting upon the sweets so abund- 

 antly found, now fighting over the 

 possession of some tempting flower, 

 now and then individuals darting away 

 with a speed that baffles the eye in a 

 course marked by the luminous glow of 

 their refulgent colors; the bright 

 flowers, the graceful movements of the 

 birds and the beautiful, changeful hues 

 of their plumage intensified by the sun- 

 light- all forms a picture of remark- 

 able l-eauty. 



The nests of <he Hummingbirds are 

 among the most beautiful examples of 

 bird architecture. They are composed 

 of fine materials and are made extreme- 

 ly soft and comfortable, usually com- 

 pactly felted structures of a cup-shaped 

 form. The substances used in their 

 construction are chiefly plant down, in- 

 terwoven and strengthened by cob-webs 

 and often covered externally with lich- 

 ens- Small feathers are also frequent- 

 ly used to advantage. In California a 

 common material is the down from the 

 sycamore. These nests are usually sad- 

 dled upon a horizontal twig without 

 any eftort at concealment among ihe 

 foliage, as is the custom with most oth- 

 er birds; yet so much does the nest re- 

 semble a knot or other excrescence, or 

 a bit of rubbish that it might easily pass 

 unnoticed. Hummingbird nests are 

 usually found through pure accident, 

 although one, by carefully watching 

 the birds when they are suspected of 

 having a nest in the vicinity, may be 

 led to it by the unsuspicious birds. 



The eggs of all Hummingbirds are 

 two in number, pure white in color, 

 and usuaLy oblong in form and rather 

 large for the size of the birds. The 



period of incubation is about twelve 

 days, two or more broods are raised in 

 a year. 



H. C. LiLLIE, 



Visalia, Calif. 



Oological Crookedness. 



The list of a lot of eggs privately of- 

 fered by a Texas collector ''dirt cheap," 

 contained "16 Am. Raven; 1-5 White- 

 necked Raven," and, among other small 

 fry, — "1-2 Plumbeous Chickadee, 1-5 

 Cowbird.'" In amusement, I allowed 

 a lot of cheap sets, including the "1-5 

 Cowbird" to be sent on approval, with 

 the "Plumbeous Chickadee," — and the 

 alleged two sorts of Raven eggs. Of 

 these latter, the eggs of the lai'ger set 

 were identified at Washington as surely 

 White-necked Raven, though "identifi- 

 cation" on the data I'ead "bird stuffed"^ 

 (which is, by the way, about as satis- 

 factory as the stereotyped "sure" which 

 any dolt can affix to any data for any 

 eggs!) On the data for the two very 

 pretty Titmouse (?) eggs, I read, "Nest 

 on small branch of a tree. Built much 

 like a Wren's." Almost as amusing is 

 the description on the data for that 

 "sef of Cowbirds:" "nest of sticks 

 and grass in a tree, ten feet up. Think 

 it was a Red-birds nest.' A set of 

 "Boat-tail" eggs, sold for a song, were 

 not Boat-tails at all; a set of Blue Gros- 

 beak contained three eggs by as many 

 Grosbeaks, with as many degrees of 

 blow-hole bigness, with one eg^ of an 

 Indigo Bunting; while, save in two in- 

 stances, there were no set marks on 

 any of the eggs in the whole invoice. 



This astonishing collector has the 

 start of us in ways other than in his 

 ability to blow hot and cold with the 

 same mouth. He can, for instance, 

 take eggs of both Lark Finch and. 

 Western Lark Finch in the same coun- 

 ty. Out of four Lark P'inch sets of a 

 uniform five, each, there were hardly 

 three eggs that could, by any probabili- 



